
G)IPghtN"__B-fe52» 



COPYRrCHT DEPOSIT. 



HERO STORIES 
FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



BLAISDELL'S HISTORICAL READERS 

By ALBERT F. BLAISDELL 

STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

A Supplementary Reader for the Fifth and Sixth Grades 
Fully illustrated. List price, 40 cents 

THE STORY OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

A Supplementary Reader for the Seventh and Eighth Grades 
Fully illustrated. List price, 60 cents 



HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 
By ALBERT F. BLAISDELL and FRANCIS K. BALL 

A Supplementary Reader for the Sixth and Seventh Grades 
Fully illustrated. List price, cents 



GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 




'T is the star-spangled banner : 0, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave 



HERO STORIES 
FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

BY 

ALBERT F. BLAISDELL 

Author of "Stories froini English History," "The Story of 
American History," etc., etc. 



FRANCIS K. BALL 

Instructor in the Phillips Exeter Academy 



Boston, U.S.A., and London 
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

1903 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Twc Copies Received 

APR 16 1903 

Copyright tntry 



CLASS C\y \Xc. N< 

COPY e, 



E ns. 

.3 



Entered at Stationers' Hj 



Copyright, 1903, by 
Albert F. Blaisdeli, and Francis K. Ball 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



TO 

edwin 6inii 

FINANCIER EDUCATOR 
PHILANTHROPIST 



PREFACE 



THIS book is intended to be used as a supplementary his- 
torical reader for the sixth and sevenrti grades of our 
public schools, or for any other pupils from twelve to fifteen 
years of age. It is also designed for collateral reading in 
connection with the study of a formal text-book on American 
history. 

The period here included is the first fifty years of our national 
life. No attempt has been made, however, to present a con- 
nected account, or to furnish a bird's-eye view, of this half 
century. 

It is the universal testimony of experienced teachers that such 
materials as are pervaded with reality serve a useful purpose 
with young pupils. The reason is plain. Historical matter 
that is instinct with human life attracts and holds the attention 
of boys and girls, and whets their desire to know more of the 
real meaning of their country's history. For this reason the 
authors have selected rapid historical narratives, treating of 
notable and dramatic events, and have embellished them with 
more details than is feasible within the limits of most school- 
books. Free use has been made of personal incidents and 
anecdotes, which thrill us because of their human element, and 
smack of the picturesque life of our forefathers. 

It has seemed advisable to arrange the subjects in chrono- 
logical order. As the various chapters have appeared in proof, 
they have been put to a practical test in the sixth grade in sev- 
eral grammar schools. In a number of instances the pupils 



X HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

learned that, in the first reading, some of the stories were less 
difficult than others. From the nature of the subject-matter 
this is inevitable. For instance, it was found easier, and doubt- 
less more interesting, to read ''The Patriot Spy " and ''A Dar- 
ing Exploit " before beginning " The Hero of Vincennes " and 
''The Crisis." "Old Ironsides" will at first probably appeal 
to more young f)eople than " The Final Victory." 

An historical reader would truly be of little value if it could 
be read at a glance, like so many insipid storybooks, and then 
thrown aside. 

Hence, it is suggested that teachers, after becoming familiar 
with the general scope of this book and gauging with some 
care the capabilities of their pupils, should, if they find it for 
the best interests of their classes, change the order of the chap- 
ters for the first reading. But in the second, or review read- 
ing, they should follow the chronological order. 

The attention of teachers is called to the questions for review 
on pages 217-230, the pronunciation of proper names on pages 
231, 232, and the reference books and supplementary reading 
in American history mentioned on pages 233-239. The index 
(page 241) is made full for purposes of reference and review. 

In the preparation of this book, old journals, original records 
and documents, and sundry other trustworthy sources have been 
diligently consulted and freely utilized. 

We would acknowledge our indebtedness to Mrs. Janet Net- 

tleton Ball, who has aided us materially at several stages of our 

work ; and to Mr. Ralph Hartt Bowles, Instructor in English in 

The Phillips Exeter Academy, for valuable assistance in reading 

the manuscript and the proofs. 

ALBERT F. BLAISDELL, 
FRANCIS K. BALL. 

Boston, March, 1903 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I PAGE 

The Hero of Vincennes i 

CHAPTER II 
A Midwinter Campaign i8 

CHAPTER III 
How Palmetto Logs may be used .36 

CHAPTER IV 
The Patriot Spy 5° 

CHAPTER V 
Our Greatest Patriot 62 

CHAPTER VI 
A Midnight Surprise . 11 

CHAPTER VII 
The Defeat of the Red Dragoons 90 

CHAPTER VIII 
From Teamster to Major General . . . . .. .105 

xi 



xii HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

CHAPTER IX PAGE 

The Final Victory 123 

CHAPTER X 
The Crisis , - 138 

CHAPTER XI 
A Daring Exploit 156 

CHAPTER XII 
"Old Ironsides" . . , 169 

CHAPTER XIII 
"Old Hickory's" Christmas . 185 

CHAPTER XIV 
A Hero's Welcome . -199 



Questions for Review . .217 

Pronunciation of Proper Names .... .231 

Books for Reference and Reading in the Study of 

American History 233 

Index .........=.. 241 



HERO STORIES 
FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



CHAPTER I 
THE HERO OF VINCENNES 

EARLY in 1775 Daniel Boone, the famous hunter 
and Indian fighter, with thirty other backwoods- 
men, set out from the Holston settlements to clear the 
first trail, or bridle path, to what is now Kentucky. 
In the spring of the same year, George Rogers Clark, 
although a young fellow of only twenty-three years, 
tramped through the wilderness alone. When he 
reached the frontier settlements, he at once became the 
leader of the little band of pioneers. 

One evening in the autumn of 1775, Clark and his 
companions were sitting round their camp fire in the 
wilderness. They had just drawn the lines for a fort, 
and were busy talking about it, when a messenger came 
with tidings of the bloodshed at Lexington, in far-away 
Massachusetts. With wild cheers these hunters listened 
to the story of the minutemen, and, in honor of the 
event, named their log fort " Lexington." 



HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



At the close of this eventful year, three hundred reso- 
lute men had gained a foothold in Kentucky. In the 
trackless wilderness, hemmed in by savage foes, these 
pioneers with their wives and their children began their 
struggle for a home. In one short year, this handful of 
men along the western border were drawn into the midst 

of the war of the Revolution. 
From now on, the East and 
the West had each its own 
work to do. While Wash- 
ington and his " ragged Con- 
tinentals " fought for our 
independence, "the rear 
guard of the Revolution," as 
the frontiersmen were called, 
were not less busy. 

Under their brave leaders, 
Boone, Clark, and Harrod, in 
half a dozen little blockhouses and settlements, they 
were laying the foundations of a great commonwealth, 
w^hile between them and the nearest eastern settlements 
were two hundred miles of wilderness. The struggle 
became so desperate in the fall of 1776 that Clark 
tramped back to Virginia, to ask the governor for help 
and to trade for powder. 

Virginia was at this time straining every nerve to do 
her part in the fight against Great Britain, and could 
not spare men to defend her distant county of Kentucky ; 




A Minuteman of 1776 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES 



but, won by Clark's earnest appeal, the governor lent 
him, on his own personal security, five hundred pounds 
of powder. After many thrilling adventures and sharp 
fighting with the Indians, Clark got the powder down 
the Ohio River, and distributed it among the settlers. 
The war with their savage foes was now carried on with 
greater vigor than ever. 

Now we must remember that the vast region north 
of the Ohio was at this time a part of Canada. In this 
wilderness of forests and prairies lived many tribes of war- 
like Indians. Here ._ - , .^. 
and there were 
clusters of French 
Creole villages, and 
forts occupied by 
British soldiers ; for 
with the conquest 
of Canada these 
French settlements 
had passed to the 
English crown. 
When the war of 
the American Rev- 
olution broke out, 
the British govern- 
ment tried to unite all the tribes of Indians against its 
rebellious subjects in America. In this way the people 
were to be kept from going west to settle. 




Indians attacking a Stockaded Fort on the Fronti 



4 HERO STORIES EROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Colonel Henry Hamilton was the lieutenant governor 
of Canada, with headquarters at Detroit. It was his 
task to let loose the redskins that they might burn 
the cabins of the settlers on the border, and kill their 
women and children, or carry them into captivity. The 
British commander supplied the savages with rum, rifles, 
and powder; and he paid gold for the scalps which 
they brought him. The pioneers named Hamilton the 
" hair buyer." 

For the next two years Kentucky well deserved the 
name of "the dark and bloody ground." It was one 
long, dismal story of desperate fighting, in \yhich heroic 
women, with tender hearts but iron muscles, fought 
side by side with their husbands and their lovers. 

Meanwhile, Clark was busy planning deeds never 
dreamed of by those round him. He saw that the 
Kentucky settlers were losing ground, and were doing 
little harm to their enemies. The French villages, 
guarded by British forts, were the headquarters for 
stirring up, arming, and guiding the savages. It seemed 
to Clark that the way to defend Kentucky was to carry 
the war across the Ohio, and to take these outposts 
from the British. He made up his mind that the whole 
region could be won for the United States by a bold and 
sudden march. 

In 1777, he sent two hunters as spies through the 
Illinois country. They brought back word that the 
French took little interest in the war between England 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES 



and her colonks ; that they did not care for the British, 
and were much afraid of the pioneers. Clark was a 
keen and far-sighted soldier. He knew that it took all 
the wisdom and courage of his fellow settlers to defend 
their own homes. He must 
bring the main part of his 
force from Virginia. 

Two weeks before Bur- 
goyne's surrender at Sara- 
toga, he tramped through the 
w^oods for the third time, to 
lay his cause before Patrick 
Henry, who w^as then gov- 
ernor of Virginia. Henry 
was a fiery patriot, and he 
was deeply moved by the faith 
and the eloquence of the gallant young soldier. 

Virginia was at this time nearly worn out by the 
struggle against King George. A few of the leading 
patriots, such as Jefferson and Madison, listened favor- 
ably to Clark's plan of conquest, and helped him as 
much as they could. At last the governor made Clark 
a colonel, and gave him pow^er to raise three hun- 
dred and fifty men from the frontier counties west 
of the Blue Ridge. He also gave orders on the state 
oi^cers at Fort Pitt for boats, supplies, and powder. 
All this did not mean much except to show good 
will and to give the legal right to relieve Kentucky. 




General George Rogers Clark 



6 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Everything now depended on Clark's own energy and 
influence. 

During the winter he succeeded in raising one hun- 
dred and fifty riflemen.. In the spring he took his Httle 
army, and, with a few settlers and their families, drifted 
down the Ohio in flatboats to the place where stands 
to-day the city of Louisville. 

The young leader now weeded out of his army all 
who seemed to him unable to stand hardship and fatigue. 
Four companies of less than fifty men each, under four 
trusty captains, were chosen. All of these were familiar 
with frontier warfare. 

On the 24th of June, the little fleet shot the Falls 
of the Ohio amid the darkness of a total eclipse of 
the sun. Clark planned to land at a deserted French 
fort opposite the mouth of the Tennessee River, and 
from there to march across the country against Kas- 
kaskia, the nearest Illinois town. He did not dare to 
go up the Mississippi, the usual way of the fur traders, 
for fear of discovery. 

At the landing place, the army was joined by a band 
of American hunters who had just come from the French 
settlements. These hunters said that the fort at Kas- 
kaskia was in good order; and that the Creole militia 
not only were well drilled, but greatly outnumbered 
the invading force. They also said that the only chance 
of success was to surprise the town; and they offered 
to guide the frontier leader by the shortest route. 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES 



With these hunters as guides, Clark began his march 
of a lunidred miles through the wilderness. The first 
fifty miles led through a tangled and pathless forest. 
On the prairies the marching was less difficult. Once 
the chief guide lost his course, and all were in dismay. 
Clark, fearing treachery, coolly told the man that he 
should shoot him in 
two hours if he did 
not find the trail. The 
guide was, however, 
loyal ; and, marching 
by night and hiding 
by day, the party 
reached the river Kas- 
kaskia, w^ithin three 
miles of the town that 
lay on the farther side. 

The chances were ^ ^^^ showing the Line of Clark's March 

greatly against our young leader. Only the speed and 
the silence of his march gave him hope of success. Under 
the cover of darkness, and in silence, Clark ferried his 
men across the river, and spread his little army as if to 
surround the town. 

Fortune favored him at every move. It was a hot July 
night ; and through the open windows of the fort came the 
sound of music and dancing. The officers were giving a 
ball to the light-hearted Creoles. All the men of the vil- 
lage were there ; even the sentinels had left their posts. 




HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Leaving a few men at the entrance, Clark walked 
boldly into the great hall, and, leaning silently against 
the doorpost, watched the gay dancers as they whirled 
round in the light of the flaring torches. Suddenly an 
Indian lying on the floor spied the tall stranger, sprang 

to his feet, and gave a 
whoop. The dancing 
stopped. The Creole 
girls screamed, and 
their partners rushed 
toward the doors. 

" Go on with your 
dance," said Clark, 
" but remember that 
henceforth you dance 
under the American 
flag, and not under that 
of Great Britain." 

The surprise was 
complete. Nobody had 

Clark interrupts the Dance i . • . i-n-i 

a chance to resist. The 
town and the fort were in the hands of the riflemen. 

Clark at once made friends with the fickle Creoles. 
He formed them into companies, and drilled them every 
day. A priest known as Father Gibault, a man of ability 
and influence, became a devoted friend to the Americans. 
He persuaded the people at Cahokia and at other Creole 
villages, and even at Vincennes, about one hundred and 




THE HERO OF VINCENNES 9 

forty miles away on the Wabash, to turn from the British 
and to raise the American flag. Thus, without the loss 
of a drop of blood, all the posts in the Wabash valley 
passed into the hands of the Americans, and the boundary 
of the rising republic was extended to the Mississippi. 

Clark soon had another chance to show what kind of 
man he was. With less than two hundred riflemen and 
a few fickle Creoles, he was hemmed in by tribes of faith- 
less savages, with no hope of getting help or advice for 
months ; but he acted as few other men in the country 
would have dared to act. He had just conquered a 
territory as large as almost any European kingdom. 
If he could hold it, it would become a part of the 
new nation. Could he do it? 

From the Great Lakes to the Mississippi came the 
chiefs and the warriors to Cahokia to hear what the great 
chief of the " Long Knives " had to say for himself. The 
sullen and hideously painted warriors strutted to and fro 
in the village. At times there were enough of them to 
scalp every white man at one blow, if they had only 
dared. Clark knew exactly how to treat them. 

One day when it seemed as if there would be trouble 
at any moment, the fearless commander did not even 
shift his lodging to the fort. To show his contempt of 
the peril, he held a grand dance, and "the ladies and 
gentlemen danced nearly the whole night," while the 
sullen warriors spent the time in secret council. Clark 
appeared not to care, but at the same time he had a large 



lO 



HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



room near by filled with trusty riflemen. It was hard 
work, but the young Virginian did not give up. He 
won the friendship and the respect of the different tribes, 
and secured from them pledges of peace. It was little 
trouble to satisfy the easy-going Creoles. 

Let me tell you of an incident which showed Clark's 
boldness in dealing with Indians. Years after the Illinois 

campaign, three 
hundred Shaw- 
nee warriors 
came in full war 
paint to Fort 
Washington, the 
present site of 
Cincinnati, to 
meet the great 
" Long Knife" 
chief in council. 
Clark had only 
seventy men in 
the stockade. The savages strode into the council room 
with a war belt and a peace belt. Full of fight and ugli- 
ness, they threw the belts on the table, and told the great 
pioneer leader to take his choice. 

Quick as a flash, Clark rose to his feet, swept both 
the belts to the floor with his cane, stamped upon them, 
and thrust the savages out of the hall, telling them 
to make peace at once, or he would drive them off the 




Fort Washington, a Stockaded Fort on the Ohio, the 
Present Site of Cincinnati 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES II 

face of the earth. The Shawnees held a council which 
lasted all night, but in the morning they humbly agreed 
to bury the hatchet. 

Great was the wrath of Hamilton, the "hair buyer gen- 
eral," when he heard what the young Virginian had done. 
He at once sent out runners to stir up the savages; and, 
in the first week of October, he set out in person from 
Detroit with five hundred British regulars, French, and 
Indians. He recaptured Vincennes without any trouble. 
Clark had been able to leave only a few of the men he 
had sent there, and the Creoles deserted the moment 
they caught sight of the redcoats. 

If Hamilton had pushed on through the Illinois coun- 
try, he could easily have crushed the little American 
force ; but it was no easy thing to march one hundred 
and forty miles over snow-covered prairies, and so the 
British commander decided to wait until spring. 

When Clark heard of the capture of Vincennes, he 
knew that he had not enough men to meet Hamilton in 
open fight. What was he to do ? Fortune again came 
to his aid. 

The last of January, he heard that Hamilton had sent 
most of his men back to Detroit; that the Indians 
had scattered among the villages ; and that the British 
commander himself was now wintering at Vincennes 
with about a hundred men. Clark at once decided to 
do what Hamilton had failed to do. Having selected 
the best of his riflemen, together with a few Creoles, 



12 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

one hundred and seventy men in all, he set out on 
February 7 for Vincennes. 

All went well for the first week. They marched 
rapidly. Their rifles supplied them with food. At 
night, as an old journal says, they " broiled their meat 
over the huge camp fires, and feasted like Indian war 
dancers." After a week the ice had broken up, and the 
thaw flooded everything. The branches of the Little 
Wabash now made one great river five miles wide, the 
water even in the shallow places being three feet deep. 

It took three days of the hardest work to ferry the 
little force across the flooded plain. All day long the 
men waded in the icy waters, and at night they slept 
as well as they could on some muddy hillock that rose 
above the flood. By this time they had come so near 
Vincennes that they dared not fire a gun for fear of 
being discovered. 

Marching at the head of his chilled and foot-sore army, 
Clark was the first to test every danger. 

" Come on, boys ! " he would shout, as he plunged into 
the flood. 

Were the men short of food ? " I am not hungry," 
he would say, " help yourself." Was some poor fellow 
chilled to the bone ? " Take my blanket," said Clark, 
'' I am glad to get rid of it." 

In fact, as peril and suffering increased, the courage 
and the cheerfulness of the young leader seemed to grow 
stronger. 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES 1 3 

On February 17, the tired army heard Hamilton's 
sunrise gun on the fort at Vincennes, nine miles away, 
boom across the muddy flood. 

Their food had now given out. The Creoles began 
to lose heart, and wished to go back. In hastily made 
dugouts the men were ferried, in a driving rain, to the 
eastern bank of the Wabash ; but they found no dry land 
for miles round. With Clark leading the way, the men 
waded for three miles with the water often up to their 
chins, and camped on a hillock for the night. The 
records tell us that a little drummer boy, whom some of 
the tallest men carried on their shoulders, made a deal 
of fun for the weary men by his pranks and jokes. 

Death now stared them in the face. The canoes could 
find no place to ford. Even the riflemen huddled together 
in despair. Clark blacked his face with damp gunpowder, 
as the Indians did when ready to die, gave the war whoop, 
and leaped into the ice-cold river. With a wild shout the 
men followed.. The whole column took up their line of 
march, singing a merry song. They halted six miles from 
Vincennes. The night was bitterly cold, and the half- 
frozen and half-starved men tried to sleep on a hillock. 

The next morning the sun rose bright and beautiful. 
Clark made a thrilling speech and told his famished men 
that they would surely reach the fort before dark. One 
of the captains, however, was sent with twenty-five 
trusty riflemen to bring up the rear, with orders to shoot 
any man that tried to turn back. 



14 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The worst of all came when they crossed the Horse- 
shoe Plain, which the floods had made a shallow lake 
four miles wide, with dense woods on the farther side. 
In the deep water the tall and the strong helped the 
short and the weak. The little dugouts picked up the 
poor fellows who were clinging to bushes and old logs, 
and ferried them to a spot of dry land. When they 
reached the farther shore, so many of the men were 
chilled that the strong ones had to seize those half- 
frozen, and run them up and down the bank until they 
were able to walk. 

One of the dugouts captured an Indian canoe pad- 
dled by some squaws. It proved a rich prize, for in it 
were buffalo meat and some kettles. Broth was soon 
made and served to the weakest. The strong gave up 
their share. Then amid much joking and merry songs, 
the column marched in single file through a bit of timber. 
Not two miles away was Vincennes, the goal of all their 
hopes. 

A Creole who was out shooting ducks was captured. 
From him it was learned that nobody suspected the 
coming of the Americans, and that two hundred Indians 
had just come into town. 

With the hope that the Creoles would not dare to fight, 
and that the Indians would escape, Clark boldly sent the 
duck hunter back to town with the news of his arrival. 
He sent warning to the Creoles to remain in their houses, 
for he came only to fight the British. 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES 



15 



So great was the terror of Clark's name that the French 
shut themselves up in their houses, while most of the 
Indians took to the woods. Nobody dared give a word of 
warningto the British. 

Just after dark the .. ---^^=-" 
riflemen marched into 
the streets of the vil- 
lage before the red- 
coats knew what was 
going on. 

Crack! crack! 
sharply sounded half 
a dozen rifles outside 
the fort. 

" That is Clark, and 

your time is short ! " 

cried Captain Helm, 

who was Hamilton's 

prisoner at this time ; 

" he will have this fort 

tumbling on your 

heads before to- 
morrow morning." Defending a Frontier Fort against the British 
"* and Indians 

During the night 
the Americans threw up an intrenchmenjt within rifle 
shot of the fort, and at daybreak opened a hot fire into 
the portholes. The men begged their leader to let them 
storm the fort, but he dared not risk their lives. A party 




1 6 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

of Indians that had been pillaging the Kentucky settle- 
ments came marching into the village, and were caught 
red-handed with scalps hanging at their belts. 

Clark was not slow to show his power. 

" Think, men," he said sternly, "of the cries of the widows 
and the fatherless on our frontier. Do your duty." 

Six of the savages were tomahawked before the fort, 
where the garrison could see them, and their dead bodies 
were thrown into the river. 

The British defended their fort for a few days, but 
could not stand against the fire of the long rifles. It 
was sure death for a gunner to try to fire a cannon. Not 
a man dared show himself at a porthole, through which 
the rifle bullets were humming like mad hornets. 

Hamilton the "hair buyer" gave up the defense as a 
bad job, and surrendered the fort, defended by cannon 
and occupied by regular troops, as he says in his journal, 
" to a set of uncivilized Virginia backwoodsmen armed 
with rifles." 

Tap! tap! sounded the ^ drums, as Clark gave the 
signal, and down came the British colors. 

Thirteen cannon boomed the salute over the flooded 
plains of the Wabash, and a hundred frontier soldiers 
shouted themselves hoarse when the stars and stripes 
went up at Vincennes, never to come down again. 

The British authority over this region was forever 
at an end. It only remained for Clark to defend what 
he had so gallantly won. 



THE HERO OF VINCENNES 1 7 

Of all the deeds done west of the Alleghanies durino- 
the war of the Revolution, Clark's campaign, in the region 
which seemed so remote and so strange to our forefathers, 
is the most remarkable. The vast region north of the 
Ohio River was wrested from the British crown. When 
peace came, a few years later, the boundary lines of the 
United States were the Great Lakes on the north, and 
on the west the Mississippi River. 



CHAPTER II 
A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 

A SPLENDID monument overlooks the battlefield 
of Saratoga. Heroic bronze statues of Schuyler, 
Gates, and Morgan, three of the four great leaders in 
this battle, stand each in a niche on three faces of the 
obelisk. On the south side the space is empty. The 
man who led the patriots to victory forfeited his place 
on this monument. What a sermon in stone is the 
empty niche on that massive granite shaft ! We need 
no chiseled words to tell us of the great name so 
gallantly won by Arnold the hero, and so wretchedly 
lost by Arnold the traitor. 

Only a few months after Benedict Arnold had turned 
traitor, and was fighting against his native land, he was 
sent by Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, to 
sack and plunder in Virginia. In one of these raids a 
captain of the colonial army was taken prisoner. 

" What will your people do with me if they catch 
me ? " Arnold is said to have asked his prisoner. 

" They will cut off your leg that was shot at Quebec 
and Saratoga," said the plucky and witty officer, " and 
bury it with the honors of war, and hang the rest of your 
body on a gibbet." 

i8 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 



19 



This bold reply of the patriot soldier showed the 
hatred and the contempt in which Arnold was held by 
all true Americans ; it also hints at an earlier fame which 
this strange and remarkable man had won in fighting 
the battles of his country. 

Now that war with the mother country had begun, an 
attack upon Canada seemed to be an act of self-defense ; 
for through the valley of the St. Lawrence the colonies 
to the south could be in- 
vaded. The "back door," 
as Canada was called, which 
was now open for such inva- 
sion, must be tightly shut. 
In fact it was believed that 
Sir Guy Carleton, the gov- 
ernor of Canada, was even 
now trying to get the In- 
dians to sweep down the 
valley of the Hudson, to 
harry the New England 
frontier. 

Meanwhile, under the 
old elm in Cambridge, Washington had taken command 
of the Continental army. Shortly afterwards he met 
Benedict Arnold for the first time. The great Virgin- 
ian found the young oiificer a man after his own heart. 
Arnold was at this time captain of the best-drilled and 
best-equipped company that the patriot army could boast. 









iJt 


t^^ 


1/ 






1 


'S'M 


V\ **."'« 


^'^ 


vAv*^^* 


"v^^ 


i 


m 




% 


* 0^^^^^^^ 




^^ 


^^3k 






4 




1 


f 




^}\ 


*-- 


'^«^ 


1 


i^.-*.v^ 


j: 


~"^ 



The Washington Elm in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, under which Wash- 
ington took Command 



20 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

He had already proved himself a man of energy and of 
rare personal bravery. 

Before his meeting with Washington, Arnold had 
hurried spies into Canada to find out the enemy's 
strength; and he had also sent Indians with wampum, to 
make friends with the redskins along the St. Lawrence. 
Some years before, he had been to Canada to buy 
horses ; and through his friends in Quebec and in 
Montreal he was now able to get a great deal of infor- 
mation, which he promptly sent to Congress. 

Congress voted to send out an expedition. An amiy 
was to enter Canada by the way of the Kennebec and 
Chaudiere rivers ; there to unite forces with Mont- 
gomery, who had started from Ticonderoga; and then, 
if possible, to surprise Quebec. 

The patriot army of some eighteen thousand men was 
at this time engaged in the siege of Boston. During the 
first week in September, orders came to draft men for 
Quebec. For the purpose of carrying the troops up the 
Kennebec River, a force of carpenters was sent ahead 
to build two hundred bateaux, or flat-bottomed boats. 
To Arnold, as colonel, was given the command of the 
expedition. For the sake of avoiding any ill feeling, 
the officers were allowed to draw lots. So eager were 
the troops to share in the possible glories of the cam- 
paign that several thousand at once volunteered. 

About eleven hundred men were chosen, the very 
flower of the Continental army. More than one half of 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 21 

these came from New England; three hundred were 
riflemen from Pennsylvania and from Virginia, among 
whom were Daniel Morgan and his famous riflemen 
from the west bank of the Potomac. 

On September 13, the little army left Cambridge 
and marched through Essex to Newburyport. The 
good people of this old seaport gave the troops an ova- 
tion, on their arrival Saturday night. They escorted 
them to the churches on Sunday, and on Tuesday morn- 
ing bade them good-by, " with colors flying, drums and 
fifes playing, the hills all around being covered with 
pretty girls weeping for their departing swains." 

On the following Thursday, with a fair wind, the 
troops reached the mouth of the Kennebec, one hundred 
and fifty miles away. Working their way up the river, 
they came to anchor at what is now the city of Gardi- 
ner. Near this place, the two hundred bateaux had been 
hastily built of green pine. The little army now advanced 
six miles up the river to Fort Western, opposite the 
present city of Augusta. Here they rested for three 
days, and made ready for the ascent of the Kennebec. 

An old journal tells us that the people who lived 
near prepared a grand feast for the soldiers, with three 
bears roasted whole in frontier fashion, and an abun- 
dance of venison, smoked salmon, and huge pumpkin 
pies, all washed down with plenty of West India rum. 

Among the guests at this frontier feast was a half 
breed Indian girl named Jacataqua, who had fallen in 



2 2 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

love with a handsome young officer of the expedition. 
This officer was Aaron Burr, who afterwards became 
Vice President of the United States. When the young 
visitor found that the wives of tw^o riflemen, James 
Warner and Sergeant Grier, were going to tramp to 
Canada with the troops, she, too, with some of her Indian 
friends, made up her mind to go with them. This 
trifling incident, as we shall see later, saved the lives 
of many brave men. 

The season was now far advanced. There must be no 
delay, or the early Canadian winter would close in upon 
them. The little army was divided into four divisions. 
On September 25, Daniel Morgan and his riflemen 
led the advance, with orders to go with all speed to 
what was called the Twelve Mile carrying place. The 
second division, under the command of Colonel Greene, 
started the next day. Then came the third division, 
under Major Meigs, while Colonel Enos brought up the 
rear. There were fourteen companies, each provided 
with sixteen bateaux. 

These boats were heavy and clumsy. When loaded, 
four men could hardly haul or push them through the 
shallow channels, or row them against the strong current 
of the river. It was hard and rough work. And those 
dreadful carrying places! Before they reached Lake 
Megantic, they dragged these boats, or what was left 
of them, round the rapids twenty-four times. At each 
carrying place, kegs of powder and of bullets, barrels of 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 



M A 

Boston 



"'•yport 



flour and of pork, iron kettles, and all manner of camp 
baggage had to be unpacked from the boats, carried 
round on the men's backs, and reloaded again. Some- 
times the " carry " was only a matter of a 
few rods, and again it was two miles long. 

From the day the army left Norridge- 
wock, the last outpost of civihzation, 
troubles came thick and fast. Water 
from the leaky boats spoiled the dried 
codfish and most of the flour. The salt 
beef was found unfit for use. There was 
now nothing left to eat but flour and pork. 
The all-day exposure in water, the chilling 
river fogs at night, and the sleeping in 
uniforms which were frozen stiff even in 
front of the camp fires, all began to thin 
the ranks of these sturdy backwoodsmen. 

On October 12, Colonel Enos and the rear guard 
reached the Twelve Mile carrying place. The army 
that had set out from Fort Western with nearly twelve 
hundred men could now muster only nine hundred and 
fifty well men. And yet they were only beginning the 
most perilous stage of their journey. All about them 
stood the dark and silent wilderness, through which they 
were to make their way for sixteen miles, to reach the 
Dead River. In this dreaded route there were four 
carrying places. The last was three miles long, a third 
of which was a miry spruce and cedar swamp. It took 




. SCALE OF MILES . 

'JO 60 100 

A Map of Arnold's 
Route to Quebec 



24 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

five days of hardest toil to cut their way through the 
unbroken wilderness. Fortunately, the hunters shot four 
moose and caught plenty of salmon trout. 

Now began the snail-like advance for eighty-six miles 
up the crooked course of the Dead River. Sometimes 
they cut their way through the thickets and the under- 
brush, but oftener they waded along the banks. Then 
came a heavy rainstorm, which grew into a hurricane 
during the night. The river overflowed its banks for a 
mile or more on either side. Many of the boats sank or 
were dashed to pieces. Barrels of pork and of flour were 
swept away. For the next ten days, these heroic men 
seemed to be pressing forward to a slow death by star- 
vation. Each man's ration was reduced to half a pint of 
flour a day. 

The old adage tells us that misfortunes never come 
singly. The rear guard under Colonel Enos, with its 
trail hewn out for it, had carried the bulk of the supplies ; 
but, after losing most of the provisions in the freshet, he 
refused any more flour for his half-starved comrades at 
the front. 

On October 25, the rear guard having caught up 
with Greene's division, which was in the worst plight of 
all, encamped at a place called Ledge Falls. At a coun- 
cil of war held in the midst of a driving snowstorm, 
Enos himself voted at first to go forward ; but afterwards 
he decided to go back. So the rear guard, grudgingly 
giving up two barrels of flour, turned their backs, and. 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 25 

in spite of the jeers and the threats of their comrades, 
started home. Greene and his brave fellows showed no 
signs of faltering, but, as a diary reads, " took each man 
his duds to his back, bid them adieu, and marched on." 

Just over the boundary between Maine and Canada 
there was a great sw^amp. In this bog two companies 
lost their w^ay, and waded knee-deep in the mire for ten 
miles in endless circles. Reaching a little hillock after 
dark, they stood up all night long to keep from freezing. 
Each man was for himself in the struggle for life. The 
strong dared not halt to help the weak for fear they 
too should perish. 

" Alas ! alas ! " wTites one soldier, " these horrid specta- 
cles ! my heart sickens at the recollection." 

That each man might fully realize how little food 
w^as left, a final division was made of the remaining 
provisions. Five pints of flour w^ere given to each man ! 
This must last him for a hundred miles through the 
pathless wilderness, a tramp of at least six days. In the 
ashes of the camp fire, each man baked his flour, Indian 
fashion, into five little cakes. Though the officers 
coaxed and threatened, some of the poor frantic fellows 
ate all their cakes at one meal. 

On November 2, our little army, scattered for more 
than forty miles along the banks of the Chaudiere River, 
was still dragging out its weary w^ay. Tents, boats, and 
camp supplies were all gone, except here and there a tin 
camp kettle or an ax. A rifleman tells us that one day 



26 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

he roasted and chewed his shot pouch, and adds, "in a 
short time there was not a shot pouch to be seen among 
all those in my view. " For four days this man had not 
eaten anything except a squirrel skin, which he had picked 
up some days before. 

Several dogs that had faithfully followed their masters 
were now killed and roasted; and even their feet, skin, 
and entrails were eaten. Captain Dearborn tells us how 
downcast he was when he was forced to kill and eat his 
fine Newfoundland dog. He writes, " we even pounded 
up the dog's bones and made broth for another meal." 

A dozen men, who had been left behind to die, caught 
a stray horse that had run away from some settlement. 
They shot it and ate heartily of the fiesh while they 
rested, and at last reached the main army. For seven 
days these men had had nothing for food but roots and 
black birch bark. 

The Indian girl Jacataqua, with a pet dog, still followed 
the troops. She proved herself of the greatest service as 
a guide. She knew, also, about roots and herbs, and 
these she prepared in Indian fashion for the sick and the 
injured. The men did not dare to kill her dog, for she 
threatened to leave them to their fate if they harmed the 
faithful animal. 

At one place James Warner, whose wife Jemima was 
marching with the troops, lagged behind, and, before his 
wife knew it, sank exhausted. The faithful woman ran 
back alone, and stayed with him until he died. She 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 



27 



buried him with leaves ; and then, taking his musket and 
girding on his cartridge belt, she hurried breathless and 
panting for twenty miles, until she caught up with the 
troops. And as for Sergeant Grier's good wife, she 
tramped and starved her way with the men. No won- 
der that one writer, a boy of seventeen at the time, says, 




Arnold's Men marching through the Flooded Wilderness 

as he saw this plucky woman wading through the rivers, 
" My mind was humbled, yet astonished at the exertions 
of this good woman." 

Where was the bold commander all this time, the man 
who was to lead these sturdy riflemen to easy victory? 
After paddling thirteen miles across Lake Megantic, 



28 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Arnold pei-formed one of those brilliant and reckless 
deeds for which he was noted. Perhaps no other man 
in the American army would have dared to do what he 
did. The remnant of his famishing soldiers must be 
saved, and the time was short. 

On October 28, he started down the swollen Chaudiere 
River with only a few men and without a guide. Sarti- 
gan, the nearest French settlement where provisions could 
be bought, was nearly seventy miles away. The swift 
current carried the frail canoes down the first twenty 
miles in two hours. Here through the rapids, there 
over hidden ledges, now escaping the driftwood and 
the sharp-edged rocks, Arnold and his men wTCstled 
with the angry river. 

At one place they plunged over a fall, and every canoe 
was capsized. Six of the men found themselves swim- 
ming in a large rock-bound basin, while the angry flood 
thundered thirty feet over the ledges just beyond them. 
The men swam ashore, thankful to escape death. 

The last twenty miles was tramped through the wilder- 
ness, but such was the energy of their leader that Sartigan 
was reached on the evening of the second day. Long 
before daybreak, cattle and bags of flour were ready, and, 
with a relief party of French Canadians on horseback, 
Arnold was on his way back to the starving army. 

Four days later, from the famished men in the frozen 
wilderness was heard far and wide the joyful cry, " Pro- 
visions ! " " Provisions ! " 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 29 

The cry was echoed from hill to hill, and along the 
snow-covered banks of the great river. The grim fight 
for life was over. They had won. How like a pack of 
famished wolves did they kill, cook, and devour the 
cattle ! 

The next day, two companies dashed through the icy 
waters of the Du Loup River, and, shortly afterwards, 
greeted with cheers the first house they had seen for 
thirty days. Six miles beyond, was Sartigan, — a half 
dozen log cabins and a few Indian wigwams. 

A snowstorm now set in, but the joyful men hastily 
built huts of pine boughs, kindled huge camp fires, and 
waited for the stragglers. The severe Canadian winter 
was well begun. It kept on snowing heavily. As 
Quebec might be reenforced at any moment, every cap- 
tain was ordered to get his men over the remaining 
fifty-four miles with all possible speed. 

" Quebec ! " " Quebec ! " was in everybody's mouth. 

Five days later, on November 9, the patriots reached 
Point Levi, a little French village opposite Quebec. 
The people looked on with astonishment as they 
straggled out of the woods, a worn-out army of perhaps 
six hundred men, with faces haggard, clothing in tat- 
ters, and many barefooted and bareheaded. Over 
eighty had died in the wilderness, and a hundred were 
on the sick list. So pitiful and so ludicrous was their 
appearance that one man wrote in his diary that 
they " resembled those animals of New Spain called 



30 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

orang-outangs," and " unlike the children of Israel, whose 
clothes waxed not old in the wilderness, theirs hardly 
held together." 

With his usual bravado, Arnold planned to capture 
the "Gibraltar of America" at one stroke. He little 
knew that, a few days before, some treacherous Indians 
had warned the British commander of his approach. 

On the night of November 13, Arnold ferried five 
hundred of his men across the St. Lawrence, and climbed 
to the Heights of Abraham, at the very place w^here 
Wolfe had climbed to victory sixteen years before. At 
daybreak the walls of the city were covered with soldiers 
and with citizens. Within half a mile of the walls, which 
fairly bristled w^ith cannon, the ragged soldiers halted 
and began to cheer lustily. The redcoats shouted back 
their defiance. Arnold wrote a letter to the governor of 
Quebec, demanding the surrender of the city. The 
bearer of the letter, although under a flag of truce, was 
not even allowed to come near the walls. 

After six days the little army slipped away one dark 
night, and tramped to a village some twenty miles to 
the west of Quebec. Here they hoped to join forces 
with Montgomery, who had already captured Montreal, 
and then come back to renew the siege. 

Ten days later, on December i, Arnold paraded his 
troops in front of the village church to greet Montgomery 
with his army. The united forces, still less than a thou- 
sand men, now trudged their way back to Quebec. On 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 3 1 

arriving there, Montgomery boldly demanded the sur- 
render of the town. 

Meanwhile, on November 19, Sir Guy Carleton had 
left Montreal, and, having made his way down the 
river, in the disguise of a farmer, slipped into Quebec. 
This was the salvation of Canada. 

The British general was an able soldier. He at once 
took energetic steps for the defense of the city. At 
every available point he built blockhouses, barricades, 
and palisades; and mounted one hundred and fifty can- 
non. He took five hundred sailors from the war vessels 
to help man the guns, and thus increased the garrison 
to eighteen hundred fighting men. 

For two weeks the patriot army fired their little three- 
pounders, and threw several hundred " fire pills," as the 
men called them, against the granite ramparts and into 
the town. Even the w^omen laughed at them, for they 
did no more harm than so many popguns. The redcoats 
kept up the bloodless contest by raking with their cannon 
the patriots' feeble breastworks of ice and snow. 

Montgomery spoke hopefully to his men, but in his 
heart was despair. How could he ever go home without 
taking Quebec ? Washington and Congress expected 
it, and the people at home were waiting for it. When 
he bade his young wife good-by at their home on the 
Hudson, he said, " You shall never blush for your Mont- 
gomery." What was his duty now ? Should he not 
make at least one desperate attempt.? Did not Wolfe 



32 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

take equally desperate chances and win deathless renown ? 
At last it was decided to wait for a dark night, in which 
to attack the Lower Town. 

At midnight on the last day of 1775, came the snow- 
storm so long awaited. The word was given, and about 
half past three the columns marched to the assault. 
Every man pinned to his hat a piece of white paper, on 
which was written the motto of Morgan's far-famed 
riflemen, " Liberty or Death ! " 

Arnold and Morgan, with about six hundred men, 
were to make the attack on one side of the town, and 
Montgomery, with three hundred men, on the other side. 

The storm had become furious. With their heads 
down and their guns under their coats, the men had 
enough to do to keep up with Arnold as he led the 
attack. Presently a musket ball shattered his leg and 
stretched him bleeding in the snow. Morgan at once 
took command, and, cheering on his men, carried the 
batteries ; then, forcing his way into the streets of the 
Lower Town, he waited for the promised signal from 
Montgomery. 

Meantime, the precious moments slipped by, while the 
young Montgomery was forcing his way through the 
darkness and the huge snowdrifts, along the shores of 
the St. Lawrence. When the head of his column crept 
cautiously round a point of the steep cliff, they came 
face to face with the redcoats standing beside their 
cannon with lighted matches. 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 



33 



" On, boys, Quebec is ours ! " shouted Montgomery, 
as he sprang forward. 

A storm of grape and canister swept the narrow pass, 
and the yoimg general fell dead. In dismay and confusion, 




The Midnight Attack on Quebec 



the column gave way. The command to retreat was 
hastily given and obeyed. Strange to say, so dazed 
were the British by the fierce attack that they, too, ran 



34 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

away, but soon rallied. The driving snow quickly 
covered the dead and the wounded in a funeral 
.shroud. 

The enemy were now free to close in upon Morgan 
and his riflemen, on the other side of the town. All 
night long, fierce hand to hand fighting went on in the 
narrow streets, amid the howling storm of driving snow ; 
and the morning light broke slowly upon scenes of 
confusion and horror. Morgan and his men fought 
like heroes, but they were outnumbered, and were 
forced to surrender. 

The rest of this sad story may be briefly told. 
Arnold was given the chief command. Although he 
was weakened from loss of blood, and helpless from his 
shattered leg, nothing could break his dauntless will. 
Expecting the enemy at any moment to attack the hos- 
pital, he had his pistols and his sword placed on his bed, 
that he might die fighting. From that bedside, he kept 
his army of seven hundred men sternly to its duty. In 
a month he was out of doors, hobbling about on crutches, 
and hopeful as ever of success. 

Washington sent orders for Arnold to stand his 
ground, and as late as January 27 wrote him that "the 
glorious work must be accomplished this winter." With 
bulldog grip, Arnold obeyed orders, and kept up the 
hopeless siege. During the winter, more troops came 
to his help from across the lakes, but they only closed 
the gaps made by hardships and smallpox. 



A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 35 

On the 14th of March, a flag of truce was again sent 
to the city, demanding its surrender. 

" No flag will be received," said the ofificer of the day, 
" unless it comes to implore the mercy of the king." 

A w^ooden horse was mounted on the walls near the 
famous old St. John's gate, wdth a bundle of hay before it. 
Upon the horse w^as tacked a placard, on which was 
written, " When this horse has eaten this bunch of hay, 
we will surrender." 

Although they were short of food, and w^ere forced 
to tear down the houses for firewood, the garrison was 
safe and quite comfortable behind the snow-covered 
ramparts. 

The end of the coldest winter ever known in Canada 
save one came at last. The river w^as full of ice during 
the first week of May. A few days later, three men-of- 
W'ar forced their way up the St. Lawrence through 
the floating ice, and relieved the besieged city. The 
salute of twenty-one guns fired by the fleet was joyful 
music to the people of Quebec. Amid the thundering 
of the guns from the citadel, the great bell of the Cathe- 
dral clanged the death knell to Arnold's hopes. 

The " Gibraltar of America " still remained in the pos- 
session of England. 



CHAPTER III 

HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 

IN 1775, in Virginia, the patriots forced the royal gov- 
ernor, Lord Dunmore, to take refuge on board a 
British man-of-war in Norfolk Harbor. In revenge, the 
town of Norfolk, the largest and the most important 
in the Old Dominion, was, on New Year's Day, 1776, 
shelled and destroyed. This bombardment, and scores 
of other less wanton acts of the men-of-war, alarmed 
every coastwise town from Maine to Georgia. 

Early in the fall of 1775, the British government 
planned to strike a hard blow against the Southern 
colonies. North Carolina was to be the first to receive 
punishment. It was the first colony, as perhaps you 
know, to take decided action in declaring its inde- 
pendence from the mother country. To carry out 
the intent of the British, Sir Henry Clinton, with two 
thousand troops, sailed from Boston for the Cape Fear 
River. 

The minutemen of the Old North State rallied from 
far and near, as they had done in Massachusetts after 
the battle of Lexington. Within ten days, there were 
ten thousand men ready to fight the redcoats. And 
so when Sir Henry arrived off the coast, he decided, 

36 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 37 

like a prudent man, not to land ; but cruised along 
the shore, waiting for the coming of war vessels from 
England. 

This long-expected fleet was under the command of 
Sir Peter Parker. Bafifled by head winds, and tossed 
about by storms, the ships were nearly three months on 
the voyage, and did not arrive at Cape Fear until the 
first of May. There they found Clinton. 

Sir Peter and Sir Henry could not agree as to what 
action was best. Clinton, with a wholesome respect for 
the minutemen of the Old North State, wished to sail 
to the Chesapeake ; while Lord Campbell, the royal 
governor of South Carolina, who was now an oflBcer of 
the fleet, begged that the first hard blow should fall 
upon Charleston. He declared that, as soon as the city 
was captured, the loyalists would be strong enough to 
restore the king's power. Campbell, it seems, had his 
way at last, and it was decided to sail south, to capture 
Charleston. 

Meanwhile, the people of South Carolina had received 
ample warning. So they were not surprised when, on 
the last day of May, a British fleet under a cloud of 
canvas was seen bearing up for Charleston. On the 
next day. Sir Peter Parker cast anchor off the bar, with 
upwards of fifty war ships and transports. Affairs looked 
serious for the people of this fair city; but they were 
of fighting stock, and, with the war thus brought to their 
doors, were not slow to show their mettle. 



2,S HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

For weeks the patriots had been pushing the works 
of defense. Stores and warehouses were leveled to the 
ground, to give room for the fire of cannon and muskets 
from various lines of earthworks; seven hundred w^agons 
belonging to loyalists w^ere pressed into service, to help 
build redoubts; owners of houses gave the lead from 
their windows, to be cast into bullets; fire boats were 
made ready to burn the enemy's vessels, if they passed 
thie forts. The militia came pouring in from the neigh- 
boring colonies until there were sixty-five hundred ready 
to defend the city. 

It was believed that a fort built on the southern end 
of Sullivan's Island, within point-blank shot of the 
channel leading into Charleston Harbor, might help 
prevent the British fleet from sailing up to the city. 
At all events it would be w^orth trying. So, in the 
early spring of 1776, Colonel William Moultrie, a vet- 
eran of the Indian wars, w^as ordered to build a square 
fort large enough to hold a thousand men. 

The use of palmetto logs was a happy thought. 
Hundreds of negroes were set at work cutting dow^n 
the trees and hauling them to the southern end of 
the island. The long straight logs were laid one upon 
another in two parallel rows sixteen feet apart, and 
were bound together with cross timbers dovetailed and 
bolted into the logs. The space between the two rows 
of logs was filled with sand. This made the walls of 
the fort. 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 



39 




The cannon were mounted upon platforms six feet 
high, which rested upon brick pillars. Upon these plat- 
forms the men could stand and fire through the open- 
ings. The rear of the fort and the eastern side were left 
unfinished, being merely built up seven feet with logs. 
Thirty-one cannon were mounted, but only twenty-five 
could at any one time be brought to bear upon the 
enemy. 

On the day of the battle, 
there were about four hundred 
and fifty men in the fort, only 
thirty of whom knew anything 
about handling cannon. But 
most of the garrison were expert 
riflemen, and it was soon found 
that their skill in small arms 
helped them in sighting the 
artillery. 

One day early in June, Gen- 
eral Charles Lee, who had been 

sent down to take the chief command, went over to the 
island to visit the fort. As the old-time soldier, who 
had seen long service in the British army, looked over 
the rudely built affair, and saw that it was not even 
finished, he gravely shook his head. 

" The ships will anchor off there," said he to Moultrie, 
pointing to the channel, " and will make your fort a 
mere slaughter pen." 




Colonel William Moultrie 



40 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The weak-kneed general, who afterwards sold himself 
to the British, went back and told Governor Rutledge 
that the only thing to do was to abandon the fort. 
The governor, however, was made of better stuff, and, 
besides, had the greatest faith in Colonel Moultrie. But 
he did ask his old friend if he thought he really could 
defend the cob-house fort, which Lee had laughed to 
scorn. 

Moultrie was a man of few words, and replied simply, 
" I think I can." 

" General Lee wishes you to give up the fort," added 
Rutledge, " but you are not to do it without an order 
from me, and I will sooner cut off my right hand than 
write one." 

The idea of retreating seems never to have occurred 
to the brave commander. 

" I was never uneasy," wrote Moultrie in after years, 
"because I never thought the enemy could force me to 
retire." 

It was indeed fortunate that Colonel Moultrie was a 
stout-hearted man, for otherwise he might well have been 
discouraged. A few days before the battle, the master 
of a privateer, whose vessel was laid up in Charleston 
harbor, paid him a visit. As the two friends stood on 
the palmetto walls, looking at the fleet in the distance, 
the naval oilficer said, " Well, Colonel Moultrie, what do 
you think of it now ? " 

Moultrie replied, " We shall beat them." 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 4 1 

" Sir," exclaimed his visitor, pointing to the distant men- 
of-war, " when those ships come to lay alongside of your 
fort, they will knock it down in less than thirty minutes." 

" We will then fight behind the ruins," said the stub- 
born patriot, " and prevent their men from landing." 

The British plan of attack, to judge from all military 
rules, should have been successful. First, the redcoat 
regulars were to land upon Long Island, lying to the 
north, and wade across the inlet which separates it from 
Sullivan's Island. Then, after the war ships had silenced 
the guns in the fort, the land troops were to storm the 
position, and thus leave the channel clear for the com- 
bined forces to sail up and capture the city. 

If a great naval captain like Nelson or Farragut had 
been in command, probably the ships would not have 
waited a month, but would at once have made a bold 
dash past the fort, and straightway captured Charleston. 
Sir Peter, however, was slow, and felt sure of success. 
For over three weeks he delayed the attack, thus giving 
the patriots more time for completing their defenses. 

Friday morning, June 28, was hot, but bright and 
beautiful. Early in the day. Colonel Moultrie rode to 
the northern end of the island to see Colonel Thompson. 
The latter had charge of a little fort manned by sharp- 
shooters, and it was his duty to prevent Clinton's troops 
from getting across the inlet. 

Suddenly the men-of-war begin to spread their top- 
sails and raise their anchors. The tide is coming in. 



42 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The wind is fair. One after another, the war ships get under 
way and come proudly up the harbor, under full sail. The 
all-important moment of Moultrie's life is at hand. He puts 
spurs to his horse and gallops back to the palmetto fort. 

" Beat the long roll ! " he shouts to his officers. Colonel 
Motte and Captain Marion. 

The drums beat, and each man hurries to his chosen 
place beside the cannon. The supreme test for the little 
cob-house fort has come. The men shout, as a blue flag 
with a crescent, the colors of South Carolina, is flung to 
the breeze. 

Just as a year before, the people of Boston crowded 
the roofs and the belfries, to watch the outcome of Bunker 
Hill; so now, the old men and the women and children 
of Charleston cluster on the wharves, the church towers, 
and the roofs, all that hot day, to watch the duel 
between the palmetto fort and the British fleet. 

Sir Peter Parker has a powerful fleet. He is ready 
to do his work. Two of his ships carry fifty guns each, 
and four carry twenty-eight guns each. With a strong 
flood tide and a favorable southwest wind, the stately 
men-of-war sweep gracefully to their positions. Moul- 
trie's fighting blood is up, and his dark eyes flash with 
delight. The men of South Carolina, eager to fight for 
their homes, train their cannon upon the war ships. 

" Fire ! fire ! " shouts Moultrie, as the men-of-war 
come within point-blank shot. The low palmetto cob 
house begins to thunder with its heavy guns. 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 43 

A bomb vessel casts anchor about a mile from the fort. 
Puff! bang! a thirteen-inch shell rises in the air with 
a fine curve and falls into the fort. It bursts and hurls 
up cart loads of sand, but hurts nobody. Four of the 
largest war ships are now within easy range. Down go 
the anchors, with spring ropes fastened to the cables, to 
keep the vessels broadside to the fort. The smaller 
men-of-war take their positions in a second line, in the 
rear. Fast and furious, more than one hundred and fifty 
cannon bang away at the little inclosure. 

But, even from the first, things did not turn out as the 
British expected. After firing some fifty shells, which 
buried themselves in the loose sand and did not explode, 
the bomb vessel broke down. 

About noon, the flagship signaled to three of the 
men-of-war, " Move down and take position southwest 
of the fort." 

Once there, the platforms inside the fort could be 
raked from end to end. As good fortune would have 
it, two of these vessels, in attempting to carry out their 
orders, ran afoul of each other, and all three stuck fast on 
the shoal on which is now the famed Fort Sumter. 

How goes the battle inside the fort ? The men, stripped 
to the waist and with handkerchiefs bound round their 
heads, stand at the guns all that sweltering day, with the 
coolness and the courage of old soldiers. The supply of 
powder is scant. They take careful aim, fire slowly, and 
make almost every shot tell. The twenty-six-pound balls 



44 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

splinter the masts, and make sad havoc on the decks. 
Crash ! crash ! strike the enemy's cannon balls against 
the palmetto logs. The wood is soft and spongy, and 
the huge shot either bury themselves without making 
splinters, or else bound off like rubber balls. 

Meanwhile, where was Sir Henry Clinton ? For nearly 
three weeks he had been encamped with some two thou- 
sand men on the sand bar known as Long Island. The 
men had suffered fearfully from the heat, from lack of 
water, and from the mosquitoes. 

During the bombardment of Fort Sullivan, Sir Henry 
marched his men down to the end of the sand island, 
but could not cross ; for the water in the inlet proved 
to be seven feet deep even at low tide. Somebody had 
blundered about the ford. The redcoats, however, were 
paraded on the sandy shore while some armed boats 
made ready to cross the inlet. The grapeshot from 
two cannon, and the bullets of Colonel Thompson's 
riflemen, so raked the decks that the men could not 
stay at their posts. Memories of Bunker Hill, per- 
haps, made the British ofificers a trifle timid about 
crossing the inlet, and marching over the sandy shore, 
to attack intrenched sharpshooters. Thus it happened 
that Clinton and his men, through stupidity, were kept 
prisoners on the sand island, mere spectators of the 
thrilling scene. They had to content themselves with 
fighting mosquitoes, under the sweltering rays of a 
Southern sun. 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 



45 



All this time, Sir Peter was doing his best to pound 
the fort down. The fort trembled and shook, but it 
stood. Moultrie and his men, with perfect coolness 
and with steady aim, made havoc of the war ships. 
Colonel Moultrie 
prepared grog by 
the pailful, which, 
with a negro as 
helper, he dipped 
out to the tired men 
at the guns. 

" Take good aim, 
boys," he said, as 
he passed from gun 
to gun, " mind the 
big ships, and don't 
waste the powder." 

The mainmast of 
the flagship Bristol 
was hit nine times, 
and the mizzenmast 
was struck by seven 

thirty-two-pound balls, and had to be cut away. In 
short, the flagship was pierced so many times that she 
would have sunk had not the wind been light and 
the water smooth. While the battle raged in all its 
fury, the carpenters worked like beaver^ to keep the 
vessel afloat. 




Defending the Palmetto Fort 



4b HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

At one time a cannon ball shot off one of the cables, 
and the ship swung round with the tide. 

" Give it to her, boys ! " shouts Moultrie, " now is your 
time ! " and the cannon balls rake the decks from stem 
to stern. 

The captain of the flagship was struck twice. Lord 
Campbell was hurt, and one hundred men were either 
killed or wounded. Once Sir Peter was the only man 
left on the quarter-deck, and he himself was twice 
wounded. 

The other big ship, the Experiment, fared fully as 
hard as did the flagship. The captain lost his right 
arm, and nearly a hundred of his men were killed or 
wounded. 

In fact, these two vessels were about to be left to their 
fate, when suddenly the fire of the fort slackened. 

" Fire once in ten minutes," orders Colonel Moultrie, 
for the supply of powder is becoming dangerously small. 

An aid from General Lee came running over to the 
fort. " When your powder is gone, spike your guns and 
retreat," wrote the general. 

Moultrie was not that kind of man. 

Between three and five o'clock in the afternoon, the 
fire of the fort almost stopped. The British thought 
the guns were silenced. Not a bit of it ! Even then 
a fresh supply of fivQ hundred pounds of powder 
had nearly reached the fort. It came from Governor 
Rutledge with a note, saying, " Honor and victory, my 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 



47 



good sir, to you and your worthy men with you. Don't 
make too free with your cannon. Keep cool and do 
mischief." 

How those men shouted when the powder came ! 
Bang ! bang ! the cannon in the fort thunder again. 
The British admiral 
tries to batter down the 
fort by firing several 
broadsides at the same 
moment. At times it 
seemed as if it would 
tumble in a heap. Once 
the broadsides of four 
vessels struck the fort 
at one time; but the 
palmetto logs stood un- 
harmed. A gunner by 
the name of Mc Daniel 
was mortally wounded 
by a cannon ball. As 
the dying soldier was 
being carried away, he 
cried out to his comrades in words that will never be 
forgotten, " Fight on, brave boys, and don't let liberty 
die with this day ! " 

In the hottest of the fight, the flagstaff is shot away. 
Down falls the blue banner upon the beach, outside 
the fort. 




Sergeant jasper saves the Flag 



48 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

" The flag is down ! " " The fort has surrendered ! " 
cry the people of Charleston, with pale faces and tearful 
eyes. 

Out from one of the cannon openings leaps Sergeant 
William Jasper. Walking the whole length of the fort, 
he tears away the flag from the staff. Returning with 
it, he fastens it to the rammer of a cannon, and plants 
it on the ramparts, amidst the rain of shot and shell. 

With the setting of the sun, the roar of battle slackens. 
The victory is Moultrie's. Twilight and silence fall 
upon the smoking fort. Here and there lights glimmer 
in the city, as the joyful people of Charleston return to 
their homes. The stars look down upon the lapping 
waters of the bay, where ride at anchor the shadowy 
vessels of the British fleet. Tow^ards midnight, when 
the tide begins to ebb, the battered war ships slip their 
cables and sail out into the darkness with their dead. 

The next day, hundreds came from the city to rejoice 
with Moultrie and his sturdy fighters. Governor Rut- 
ledge came down with a party of ladies, and presented 
a silk banner to the fort. Calling for Sergeant Jasper, 
he took his own short sword from his side, buckled it 
on him, and thanked him in the name of his country. 
He also offered him a lieutenant's commission, but the 
young hero modestly refused the honor, saying, " I am 
not fitted for an officer; I am only a sergeant." 

For several days, the crippled British fleet lay in the 
harbor, too much shattered to fight or to go to sea. In 



HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 49 

fa^ct, it was the first week in August before the patriots 
of South Carolina saw the last war ship and the last 
transport put out to sea, and fade away in the distance. 
The hated redcoats were gone. 

In the ten hours of active fighting, the British fleet 
fired seventeen tons of powder and nearly ten thousand 
shot and shell, but, in that little inclosure of green logs 
and sand, only one gun was silenced. 

The defense of Fort Sullivan ranks as one of the few 
complete American victories of the Revolution. The 
moral effect of the victory was perhaps more far-reaching 
than the battle of Bunker Hill. Many of the Southern 
people who had been lukewarm now openly united their 
fortunes with the patriot cause. 

Honors were showered upon the brave Colonel 
Moultrie. His servii:es to his state and to his country 
continued through life. He died at a good old age, 
beloved by his fellow citizens. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE PATRIOT SPY 

IT was plain that Washington was troubled. As he 
paced the piazza of the stately Murray mansion one 
fine autumn afternoon, he was saying half aloud to 
himself, " Shall we defend or shall we quit New York ? " 

At this time Washington's headquarters were on 
Manhattan Island, at the home of the Quaker mer- 
chant, Robert Murray; and here, in the first week of 
September, 1776, he had asked his officers to meet him 
in council. 

Was it strange that Washington's heart was heavy ? 
During the last week of August, the Continental army 
had been defeated in the battle of Long Island. A 
fourth of the army were on the sick list ; a third were 
without tents. Winter was close at hand, and the 
men, mostly new recruits, were short of clothing, shoes, 
and blankets. Only fourteen thousand men were fit 
for duty, and they were scattered all the way from the 
Battery to Kingsbridge, a distance of a dozen miles 
or more. 

The British army, numbering about twenty-five thou- 
sand, lay encamped along the shores of New York Bay 
and the East River. The soldiers were veterans, and 

50 



THE PATRIOT SPY 5 1 

they were led by veterans. A large fleet of war ships, 
lying at anchor, was ready to assist the land forces at 
a moment's notice. Scores of guard ships sailed to and 
fro, watching every movement of the patriot troops. 

To give up the city to the British without battle 
seemed a great pity. The effect upon the patriot cause 
in all the colonies would be bad. Still, there was no 
help for it. What was the use of fighting against such 
odds ? Why run the risk of almost certain defeat ? 
Washington always looked beyond the present, and he 
did not intend now to be shut up on Manhattan Island, 
perhaps to lose his entire army ; so, with the main body, 
he moved north to Harlem Heights. Here he was soon 
informed by scouts that the British were getting ready 
to move at once. Whither, nobody could tell. Such 
w^as the state of affairs that led Washington to call his 
chief oflRcers to the Murray mansion, on that September 
afternoon. 

Of course they talked over the situation long and 
calmly. After all, the main question was. What shall 
be done ? Among other things, it was thought best to 
find the right sort of man, and send him in disguise 
into the British camp on Long Island, to find out just 
where the enemy were planning to attack. 

" Upon this, gentlemen," said Washington, " depends 
at this time the fate of our army." 

The commander in chief sent for Colonel Knowlton, 
the hero of the rail fence at Bunker Hill. 



52 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

'' I want you to find for me in your regiment or in 
some other," he said, '' some young officer to go at once 
into the British camp, to discover what is going on. The 
man must have a quick eye, a cool head, and nerves of 
steel. I wish him to make notes of the position of the 
enemy, draw plans of the forts, and listen to the talk of 
the officers. Can you find such a man for me this very 
afternoon ? " 

" I will do my best, General Washington," said the 
colonel, as he took leave to go to his regiment. 

On arriving at his quarters that afternoon, Knowlton 
called together a number of officers. He briefly told 
them what Washington wanted, and asked for volun- 
teers. There was a long pause, amid deep surprise. 
These soldiers were willing to serve their country; but 
to play the spy, the hated spy, was too much even for 
Washington to ask. 

One after another of the officers, as Knowlton called 
them bv name, declined. His task seemed hopeless. At 
last, he asked a grizzled Frenchman, who had fought in 
many battles and was noted for his rash bravery. 

" No, no ! Colonel Knowlton," he said, " I am ready to 
fight the redcoats at any place and at any time ; but, sir, 
I am not willing to play the spy, and be hanged like a 
dog if I am caught." 

Just as Knowlton gave up hope of finding a man will- 
ing to go on the perilous mission, there came to him the 
painfully thrilling but cheering words, *' I will undertake 



THE PATRIOT SPY 



/ 



it." It was the voice of Captain Nathan Hale. He had 
just entered Knowlton's tent. His face was still pale 
from a severe sickness. Every man was astonished. 
The whole company knew the brilliant young officer, 
and they loved him. Now they all tried to dissuade him. 
They spoke of his fair prospects, and of the fond hopes 
of his parents and his friends. It was all in vain. They 
could not turn him from his purpose. 

" I wish to be useful," he said, " and every kind of 
service necessary for the public good becomes honorable 
by being necessary. If my 
country needs a peculiar ,m'' 
service, its claims upon 
me are imperious." 

These patriotic words 
of a man willing; to s^ive 
up his life, if necessary, 
for the good of his coun- 
try silenced his brother 
officers. 

'^Good-by, Nathan!" 
" Don't you let the red- 
coats catch you ! " " Good 
luck to you ! " " We never 
expect to see you again ! " cried his nearest friends in 
camp, as, in company with Colonel Knowlton, the young 
captain rode out that same afternoon to receive his orders 
from Washington himself. 




Hale receiving his Orders from Washington 



54 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Nathan Hale was born, as were bis eigbt brothers and 
his three sisters, in an old-fashioned, two-storied house, 
in a little country village of Connecticut. His father, 
a man of integrity, was a stanch patriot. Instead of 
allowing his family to use the wool raised on his farm, 
he saved it to make blankets for the Continental army. 
The mother of this large family was a woman of high 
moral and domestic worth, devoted to her children, for 
whom she sought the highest good. It was a quiet, 
strict household, Puritan in its faith and its manners, 
where the Bible ruled, where family prayers never failed, 
nor w^as grace ever omitted at meals. On a Saturday 
night, no work was done after sundown. 

Young Nathan w^as a bright, active American boy. 
He liked his gun and his fishing pole. He was fond of 
running, leaping, wrestling, and playing ball. One of 
his pupils said that Hale would put his hand upon a 
fence as high as his head, and clear it easily at a bound. 
He liked books, and read much out of school. Like two 
of his brothers, he was to be educated for the ministry. 
When only sixteen, he entered Yale College, and was 
graduated two years before the battle of Bunker Hill. 
Early in the fall of 1773, the young graduate began to 
teach school, and w^as soon afterwards made master of 
a select school in New London, in his native state. 

At this time young Hale was about six feet tall, and 
well built. He had a broad chest, full face, light blue 
eyes, fair complexion, and light brown hair. He had a 



THE PATRIOT SPY 55 

large mole on his neck, just where the knot of his cravat 
came. At college his friends used to joke him about it, 
declaring that he was surely born to be hanged. 

Such was Nathan Hale when the news of the blood- 
shed at Lexington reached New London. A rousing 
meeting was held that evening. The young school- 
master was one of the speakers. 

" Let us march at once," he said, " and never lay down 
our arms until we obtain our independence." 

The next morning. Hale called his pupils together, 
"gave them earnest counsel, prayed wath them, and shak- 
ing each by the hand," took his leave, and during the 
same forenoon marched with his company for Cambridge. 

The young ofificer from Connecticut took an active 
part in the siege of Boston, and soon became captain 
of his company. Hale's diary is still preserved, and 
after all these years it is full of interest. It seems that 
he took charge of his men's clothing, rations, and money. 
Much of his time he was on picket duty, and took part 
in many lively skirmishes with the redcoats. Besides 
studying military tactics, he found time to make up 
wrestling matches, to play football and checkers, and, 
on Sundays, to hold religious meetings in barns. 

Within a few hours after bidding good-by to General 
Washington, Captain Hale, taking with him one of his 
own trusty soldiers, left the camp at Harlem, intending 
at the first opportunity to cross Long Island Sound. 
There were so many British guard ships on the watch 



56 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

that he and his companion found no safe place to cross 
until they had reached Norwalk, fifty miles up the Sound 
on the Connecticut shore. Here a small sloop was to 
land Hale on the other side. 

Stripping off his uniform, the young captain put on a 
plain brown suit of citizen's clothes, and a broad-brimmed 
hat. Thus attired in the dress of a schoolmaster, he was 
landed across the Sound, and shortly afterwards reached 
the nearest British camp. 

The redcoats received the pretended schoolmaster 
cordially. A captain of the dragoons spoke of him 
long afterwards as a "jolly good fellow." Hale pre- 
tended that he was tired of the " rebel cause," and that 
he was in search of a place to teach school. 

It would be interesting to know just what the " school- 
master " did in the next two weeks. Think of the poor 
fellow's eagerness to make the most of his time, drawing 
plans of the forts, and going rapidly from one point to 
another to watch the marching of troops, patrols, and 
guards. Think of his sleepless nights, his fearful risk, 
the ever-present dread of being recognized by some 
Tory. All this we know nothing about, but his brave 
and tender heart must sometimes have been sorely tried. 

From the midst of all these dangers Hale, unhamied, 
began his return trip to the American lines. He had 
threaded his way through the woods, and round all 
the British camps on Long Island, until he reached in 
safety the point where he had first landed. Here he had 



THE PATRIOT SPY 57 

planned for a boat to meet him early the next morning, 
to take him over to the mainland. 

Many a patriotic American boy has thought what he 
should have done if he could have exchanged places 
with Nathan Hale on this evening. Near by, at a place 
then called and still called " The Cedars," a woman by 
the name of Chichester, and nicknamed " Mother Chick," 
kept a tavern, which w^as the favorite resort of all the 
Tories in that region. Hale was sure that nobody would 
know him in his strange dress, and so he ventured into 
the tavern. A number of people were in the barroom. 
A few minutes afterwards, a man whose face seemed 
familiar to Hale suddenly left the room, and was not 
seen again. 

The pretended schoolmaster spent the night at the 
tavern. 

Early the next morning, the landlady rushed into the 
barroom, crying out to her guests, " Look out, boys ! 
there is a strange boat close in shore ! " 

The Tories scampered as if the house were on fire. 

" That surely is the very boat I 'm looking for," thought 
Hale on leaving the tavern, and hastened towards the 
beach, where the boat had already landed. 

A moment more, and the young captain was amazed 
at the sight of six British marines, standing erect in the 
boat, with their muskets aimed at him. He turned to 
run, when a loud voice cried out, " Surrender or die ! " 
He was within close range of their guns. Escape was 



58 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

not possible. The poor fellow gave himself up. He was 
taken on board the British guard ship Halifax, which 
lay at anchor close by, hidden from sight by a point 
of land. 

Some have declared that the man who so suddenly 
left the tavern was a Tory cousin to Hale, and saw 
at once through the patriot's disguise ; that, being quite 
a rascal, he hurried away to get word to the British 
camp. There seems to be no good reason, however, 
to believe that the fellow was a kinsman. 

However this may be, the British captured Captain 
Hale in disguise. They stripped him and searched him, 
and found his drawings and his notes. These were 
written in Latin, and had been tucked away between 
the soles of his shoes. 

" I am sorry that so fine a fellow has fallen into my 
hands," said the captain of the guard ship, " but you are 
my prisoner, and I think a spy. So to New York you 
must go ! " 

General Howe's headquarters were at this time in the 
elegant Beekman mansion, situated near what is now the 
corner of Fifty-First Street and First Avenue. Calm and 
fearless, the captured spy stood before the British com- 
mander. He bravely owned that he was an American 
officer, and said that he was sorry he had not been able 
to serve his country better. No time was to be wasted 
in calling a court-martial. Without trial of any kind, 
Captain Hale was condemned to die the death of a spy. 



THE PAlRlOr SPY 



59 



The verdict was that he should be hanged by the neck, 
" to-morrow morning at daybreak/' 

That night, which was Saturday, September 21, the 
condemned man was kept under a strong guard, in the 
greenhouse near the 
Beekman mansion. He 
had been given over to 
the care of the brutal 
Cunningham, the in- 
famous British provost 
marshal, with orders to 
carry out the sentence ft 
before sunrise the next 




mornmg. 

" To-morrow morn- 
ing at daybreak." 

How cruelly brief ! 
Nathan Hale, the pa- 
triot spy, was left to 
himself for the night. 

When morning 
came, Cunningham 
found his prisoner ready. While preparations were being 
made, a young officer, moved in spite of himself, allowed 
Hale to sit in his tent long enough to write brief letters 
to his parents and his friends. The letters were passed to 
Cunningham to be sent. He read them, and as he saw 
the noble spirit which breathed in every line, the wretch 



The Patriot Spy before the British General 



6o 



HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



began to curse, and tore the letters into bits before the 
face of his victim. He said that the rebels should never 

know they had a man who could 
die with such firmness. 

It was just before sunrise on a 
lovely Sabbath morning that 
Nathan Hale was led out to death. 
The gallows was the limb of an 
apple tree. Early as it was, a 
number of men and women had 
come to witness the execution. 

" Give us your dying speech, you 
young rebel ! " shouted the brutal 
Cunningham. 

The young patriot, standing upon 
the fatal ladder, lifted his eyes 
toward heaven, and said, in a calm, 
clear voice, " I only regret that I 
have but one life to lose for my 
country." 

These were his last words. The 
women sobbed, and some of the men 
began to show signs of sympathy. 

" Swing the rebel off ! " cried 
ing in City Hall Park in Cunniug^ham, in a voice hoarse with 

New York City % 

anger. 1 he order was obeyed. 
Half an hour later, the body of the patriot spy was 
buried, probably beneath the apple tree, but the grave 




NAmf 



Statue of Nathan Hale, stand- 



THE PATRIOT SPY 6 1 

was not marked, and the exact spot is now unknown. 
A British officer was sent, under a flag of truce, to tell 
Washington of the fate of his gallant young captain. 

Thus died in the bloom of life. Captain Nathan Hale, 
the early martyr in the cause of our freedom. Gifted, 
educated, ambitious, he laid aside every thought of 
himself, and entered upon a service of the greatest risk 
to life and to honor, because Washington deemed it 
important to the sacred cause to which they had both 
given their best efforts. 

" What was to have been your reward in case you 
succeeded.^" asked Major Tallmadge, Hale's classmate, 
of the British spy. Major Andre, as his prisoner was 
being rowed across the Hudson River to be tried by 
court-martial. 

" Military glory was all I sought for," replied Andre ; 
" the thanks of my general and the approbation of my 
king would have been a rich reward." 

Hale did not expect, nor did he care, to be a hero. 
He had no thought of reward or of promotion. He 
sacrificed his life from a pure sense of what he thought 
to be his duty. 



CHAPTER V 
OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 

IF American boys and girls were asked to name the 
one great man in their country's history whom they 
would like to have seen and talked with, nine out of 
every ten would probably say, " Washington." Many 
an old man of our day has asked his grandfather or his 
great-grandfather how Washington looked. Indeed, so 
much has been said and written of the " Father of his 
Country" that we are apt to think of him as some- 
thing more than human. 

Washington was truly a remarkable man, from what- 
ever point of view we choose to study his life. He left, 
as a priceless legacy to his fellow citizens, an example of 
what a man with a pure and noble character can do 
for himself and for his country. Duty performed with 
faithfulness was the keynote to every word and every 
act of his life. 

Still, we must not overlook the fact that Washington 

was, after all, quite human. Like all the rest of us, he 

had his faults, his trials, and his failures. Knowing this, 

we are only drawn nearer to him, and find ourselves 

possessed of a more abiding admiration for the life he 

lived. 

62 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 



Washington was tall, and straight as an arrow. His 
favorite nephew, Lawrence Lewis, once asked him about 
his height. He replied, " In my best days, Lawrence, I 
stood six feet and two inches, in ordinary shoes." 

During his whole life, Washington was rather spare 
than fleshy. Most of his portraits, it is said, give to his 
person a fullness that 
it did not have. He 
once said that the best 
weight of his best days 
never exceeded two 
hundred and twenty 
pounds. His chest 
was broad but not well 
rounded. His arms 
and his legs were long, 
large, and sinewy. 
His feet and his hands 
were especially large. 
Lafayette, who aided 
us in the Revolution, 
once said to a friend, " I never saw so large a hand on 
any human being, as the general's." 

Washington's eyes were of a light, grayish blue, and 
were so deep sunken that they gave him an unusually 
serious expression. On being asked why he painted 
these eyes of a deeper blue than life, the artist said, 
" In a hundred years they will have faded to the right 




George Washington 



64 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

color." This painting, by Stuart, of the bust of Wash- 
ington, is said to be wonderfully true to life. 

Many stories are told of the mighty power of Wash- 
ington's right arm. It is said that he once threw a 
stone from the bed of the stream to the top of the 
Natural Bridge, in Virginia. Again, we are told that 
once upon a time he rounded a piece of slate to the 
size of a silver dollar, and threw it across the Rappa- 
hannock at Fredericksburg, the slate falling at least 
thirty feet on the other side. Many strong men have 
since tried the same feat, but have never cleared the 
water. 

Peale, who was called the soldier artist, was once 
visiting Washington at Mount Vernon. One day, he 
tells us, some athletic young men were pitching the 
iron bar in the presence of their host. Suddenly, with- 
out taking off his coat, Washington grasped the bar 
and hurled it, with little effort, much farther than any 
of them had done. " We were indeed amazed," said 
one of the young men, "as we stood round, all stripped 
to the buff, and having thought ourselves very clever 
fellows, while the colonel, on retiring, pleasantly said, 
' When you beat my pitch, young gentlemen, I '11 try 
again.' " 

At another time, Washington witnessed a wrestling 
match. The champion of the day challenged him, in 
sport, to wrestle. Washington did not stop to take off 
his coat, but grasped the "strong man of Virginia." 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 65 

It was all over in a moment, for, said the wrestler, " in 
Washington's lionlike grasp, I became powerless, and 
was hurled to the ground with a force that seemed to 
jar the very marrow in my bones." 

In the days of the Revolution, some of the riflemen 
and the backwoodsmen were men of gigantic strength, 
but it was generally believed, by good judges, that their 
commander in chief was the strongest man in the army. 

During all his life, Washington was fond of dancing. 
He learned in boyhood, and danced at "balls and routs" 
until he was sixty-four. To attend a dance, he often 
rode to Alexandria, ten miles distant from Mount Vernon. 
The year he died he was forced, on account of his failing 
health, to give up this recreation. " Alas ! " he wrote, 
" my dancing days are no more." 

Many and merry were the dances at the army head- 
quarters during the long winter evenings. General 
Greene once wrote to a friend, '' We had a little dance, 
and His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards 
of three hours, without once sitting down." Another 
winter, although they had not a ton of hay for the 
horses, as Greene wrote, and the provisions had about 
given out, and for two weeks there was not cash enough 
in camp to forward the public dispatches, Washington 
subscribed to a series of dancing parties. 

Amid all the hardships of campaign life, Washington 
was ever the same dignified and self-contained gentle- 
man. At one time, the headquarters were in an old log 



66 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

house, in which there was only one bed. He alone 
occupied this, while the fourteen members of his staff 
slept on the floor in the same room. Food, except mush 
and milk, was scarce. At this homely but wholesome fare, 
the commander in chief presided with his usual dignity. 

For a man so large and so strong, Washington ate 
sparingly and of the simplest food. We are told that he 
"breakfasted at seven o'clock on three small Indian hoe- 
cakes, and as many dishes of tea." Custis, his adopted 
son, once said that the general ate for breakfast " Indian 
cakes, honey, and tea," and that " he was excessively fond 
of fish." In fact, salt codfish was at Mount Vernon the 
regular Sunday dinner. Even at the state banquets, the 
President generally dined on a single dish, and that of a 
very simple kind. When asked to eat some rich food, 
his courteous refusal was, " That is too good for me." 
People at a distance, hearing of the great man's liking 
for honey, took pride in sending him great quantities of 
it. During fast days, he religiously went without food 
the entire day. 

Washington was fond of rich and costly clothes. In 
truth, he was in early life a good deal of a dandy. His 
clothes were made in London ; and from his long letters 
to his tailor we know that he was fussy about their 
quality and their fit. Even while away from home fight- 
ing Indians and making surveys, he did not neglect to 
write to London for "Silver Lace for a Hatt," " Rufiled 
Shirts," " Waistcoat of superfine scarlet Cloth and gold 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 67 

Lace," " Marble colored Silk Hose," "a fashionable gold 
lace Hat," " a superfine blue Broadcloth Coat with silver 
Trimmings," and many other costly and highly colored 
articles of apparel worn by the rich young men of that 
period. As he grew older, he wore more subdued cloth- 
ing, and in old age reminded his nephew that " fine 
Cloathes do not make fine Men more than fine Feathers 
make fine Birds." 

You have noticed, of course, the wrong spelling of cer- 
tain words quoted from Washington's letters and journals. 
These words are spelled as he wrote them. The truth is, 
the " Father of his Country " was all his life a poor 
speller. He was always sensitive over what he called his 
"defective education." His more formal letters and his 
state papers were in many instances put into shape by 
his aids or his secretaries, or by others associated with 
him in ofiicial life. 

If Washington had an amiable weakness, it was for 
horses. From early boyhood, he was a skillful and 
daring rider. He rode on horseback, year in and year 
out, until shortly before his death. Many were the 
stories told by the " ragged Continentals " of the superb 
appearance of their commander in chief at the head of 
the army or in battle. In speaking of the battle of Mon- 
mouth, Lafayette said, " Amid the roar and confusion of 
that conflict I took time to admire our beloved chief, 
mounted on a splendid charger, as he rode along the 
ranks amid the shouts of the soldiers. I thought then, 



68 



HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



as now," continued he, "that never had I beheld so 
superb a man." Jefferson summed it all up in one brief 
sentence: "Washington was the best horseman of his 

age, and the 
most graceful 
figure that 
could be seen 
on horseback." 
During all his 
life, Washing- 
ton was thrifty, 
and very me- 
thodical in busi- 
ness. He grew 
so wealthy that 
when he died 
his estate was 
valued at half 
a million dol- 
lars. This large 
fortune for 
those days did 
not include his 
wife's estate, or the Mount Vernon property, which 
he inherited from his brother. He was the richest 
American of his time. 

His management of the Mount Vernon estate would 
make of itself an interesting and instructive book. Of 




Washington before Trenton 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 



69 



the eight thousand acres, nearly one half was under cul- 
tivation during the last part of its owner's life. We must 
not forget that at this time few tools and very little 
machinery were used in farming. At Mount Vernon, the 
negroes and the hired laborers numbered more than five 
hundred. The owner's orders were, " Buy nothing you 




Mount Vernon, the Home of Washington 



can make within yourselves." The Mount Vernon grist- 
mill not only ground all the flour and the meal for the 
help, but it also turned out a brand of flour which sold at 
a fancy price. The coopers of the place made the flour 
barrels, and Washington's own sloop carried the flour to 
market. A dozen kinds of cloth, from woolen and linen 
to bedticking and toweling, were woven on the premises. 



70 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

In 1793, although he had one hundred and one cows 
on his farms, Washington writes that he was obhged to 
buy butter for the use of his family. Another time, he 
says that one hundred and fifteen hogsheads of " sweetly 
scented and neatly managed Tobacco " were raised, and 
that in a single year he sold eighty-five thousand herring, 
taken from the Potomac. 

For his services in the French and Indian Wars, 
Washington received as a bounty fifteen thousand acres 
of Western lands. By buying the claims of his fellow 
officers who needed money, he secured nearly as much 
more. After the Revolution, Washington and General 
Clinton bought six thousand acres " amazingly cheap," in 
the Mohawk valley. No wonder Washington was spoken 
of as "perhaps the greatest landholder in America." 

Like many other Southern proprietors, Washington 
had no end of bother with his slaves. He bought and 
sold negroes as he did his cattle and his horses, but, as 
he said, "except on the richest of Soils they only add to 
the Expense." In 1791, the slaves on the Mount Vernon 
estate alone numbered three hundred. In this same year, 
the owner wrote one day in his diary that he would 
never buy another slave; but the next night his cook 
ran away, and not being able to hire one, "white or 
black," he had to buy one. " Something must be done," 
he said, " or I shall be ruined. It would be for my Inter- 
est to set them free, rather than give them Victuals and 
Clooths." 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 7 1 

Washington was too kind-hearted ever to flog his 
slaves, and yet his kindness was often abused. Fat and 
lazy, they made beHeve to be sick, or they ran away, and 
they played all kinds of pranks. In his diary, w^e read 
the tale of woe. We are told that his slaves would steal 
his sheep and his potatoes ; would burn their tools ; and 
wasted six thousand twelvepenny nails in building a 
corn-house. 

Like other rich Virginians of his time, Washington 
kept open house. He once said that his home had 
become "a well resorted tavern." Indeed it was, for 
guests of all sorts and conditions w^ere dined and wined 
to their hearts' content. According to the diary, it 
seemed to matter little whether it was a real nobleman, 
or a tramp " who called himself a French Nobleman," a 
sick or a wounded soldier, or " a Farmer who came to 
see the new drill Plow," all " were desired to tarry," to 
help eat the hot roasts and drink the choice wines. 

There seems to have been almost no end to the sums 
of money, both large and small, which Washington gave 
away. Through the pages of his ledgers, we find hun- 
dreds of items of cash paid in charity. Here are a few 
entries which are typical of the whole: "lo Shillings for 
a wounded Soldier"; "gave a poor Man $2.00"; "two 
deserving French Women, $25"; "a poor blind Man, 
$1.50"; "a Lady in Distress, $50"; "the poor in Alex- 
andria, $100"; "Sufferers by Fire, #300"; "School in 
Kentucky, $100." His lavish hospitality and his 



72 Hr:RO STORIKS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

unceasing chanty were a constant drain on his income. 
1 lad he not been so thorough in business, he surely would 
have been broucrht to financial ruin. 

After the war of the Revolution was over, Congress 
having failed to pay certain prominent officers of the 
armv, an outbreak was threatened. A meetinor was 
held at Newburgh, New York. \\'ashington was there. 
Everybody present knew that he had served without pay, 
and had advanced large sums from his private fortune, 
to pay the army expenses. There was a deathlike still- 
ness when the commander in chief rose to read his 
address. His eyesight had become so poor that he was 
now using glasses. He had never worn these in public, 
but, finding his sight dim, he stopped reading, took his 
spectacles from his pocket, and put them on, saying 
quietly, " You will permit me to put on my spectacles. 
I have grown gray in the service of my country, and now 
find myself growing blind." It was not merelv what the 
beloved general said, but the way he spoke the few, 
simple words. The pathos of this act, and the solemn 
address of this majestic man touched every heart. No 
wonder that some of the veterans were moved to tears. 

One day a schoolboy stood on the stone steps before 
the old State House, in Philadelphia, as the first Presi- 
dent of the United States was driven up to make his 
formal visit to Congress. This small boy glided into the 
hall, under the cover of the long coats of the finely 
dressed escort. Boylike he climbed to a hiding place, 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 



1Z 



from which he watched the proceedings witli tlie deepest 
awe. The boy Hved to write fifty years afterwards a 
pleasing description 
of the affair. He 
tells us that while 
Washington 
entered, and walked 
up the broad aisle, 
and ascended the 
steps leading to the 
speaker's chair, the 
large and crowded 
chamber " was as 
profoundly still as a 
house of worship in 
the most solemn 
pauses of devotion." 
On tliis occasion, 
Washington was 
dressed in a full suit 
of the richest black I 
velvet, with diamond 
knee buckles, and 

square silver buc- '' 

kles set upon shoes 

japanned witl"! the 

greatest neatness, black silk stockings, his shirt rufRed 

at the breast and tlie wrists, a YvA^i sword, liis hair fullv 




General Washington and Staff riding through 
a Country Village 



74 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

dressed, so as to project at the sides, and gathered behind 
in a silk bag, ornamented with a large rose of black ribbon. 
As he advanced toward the chair, he held in his hand his 
cocked hat, which had a large black cockade. When 
seated, he laid his hat upon the table. Amid the most 
profound silence, Washington, taking a roll of paper from 
his inside coat pocket, arose and read with a deep, rich 
voice his opening address. 

Those who knew Washington have said that his 
presence inspired a feeling of awe and veneration rarely 
experienced in the presence of any other American. 
His countenance rarely softened or changed its habitual 
gravity, and his manner in public life was always grave 
and self-contained. In vain did the merry young women 
at Lady Washington's receptions do their best to make 
the stately President laugh. Some declared that he 
could not laugh. Beautiful Nellie Custis, his w^ard and 
foster child, used to boast of her occasional success in 
making the sedate President laugh aloud. 

We may be sure that President Washington's recep- 
tions, every other Tuesday afternoon, were formal. On 
such occasions, he was in the full dress of a gentleman of 
that day, — black velvet, powdered hair gathered in a 
large silk bag, and yellow gloves. At his side was a long, 
finely wrought sword, with a scabbard of white polished 
leather. He always stood in front of the fireplace, with 
his face toward the door. He received each visitor with 
a dignified bow, but never shook hands, even with his 



OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 



75 



nearest friends. He considered himself visited, not as a 
friend, but as President of the United States. 

While President, Washington used to give a public 
dinner, every Thursday at four o'clock, " to as many as 
my table will hold." He allowed five minutes for differ- 
ence in watches, and, at exactly five minutes past four 



•V/^ 








Washington at Mount Vernon 

by his hall clock, went to the table. His only apology 
to the laggard guest was, " I have a cook who never asks 
whether the company has come, but whether the hour 
has come." 

If we may judge from the very full accounts of 
these grand dinners, as described in the diaries of the 



76 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

guests, they must have been stiff affairs. These people 
probably wrote the truth when they said, " glad it is 
over," "great formality," "my duty to submit to it," 
" scarcely a word was said," " there was a dead silence." 
No doubt there was much good food to eat and choice 
wine to drink, but the formal manners of the times were 
emphasized by awe of their grave host. Very few of the 
guests, both at Mount Vernon and at Philadelphia, failed 
to allude to the habit that Washington had of playing 
with his fork and striking on the table with it. 

It would take a book many times larger than this to 
tell you all that has been written about Washington's 
everyday life. Some day you will delight to read more 
about him, and learn why he was, in every sense of the 
word, a wise, a good, and a great man, — the man who 
" without a beacon, without a chart, but with an unswerv- 
ing eye and steady hand, guided his country safe through 
darkness and through storm." 

Every young American should remember of Washing- 
ton that " there is no word spoken, no line written, no 
deed done by him, which justice would reverse or wisdom 
deplore." His greatness did not consist so much in his 
intellect, his skill, and his genius, though he possessed 
all these, as in his honor, his integrity, his truthfulness, 
his high and controlling sense of duty — in a word, his 
character, honest, pure, noble, great. 



CHAPTER VI 
A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 

WE have certainly read enough about General 
Washington to know that he often planned to 
steal a march on the British. Don't you remember how 
surprised General Howe was one morning to find that 
Washington had gone to Dorchester Heights, with a 
big force of men, horses, and carts, and how he threw 
up breastworks, mounted cannon, and forced the British 
general after a few days to quit the good city of Boston ? 
Have n't we also read how the " ragged Continentals " 
left their bloody footprints in the snow, as they marched 
to Trenton all that bitter cold night in December, 1777, 
and gave the Hessians a Christmas greeting they little 
expected ? 

In January, 1779, England sent orders to General Clin- 
ton " to bring Mr. Washington to a general and decisive 
action at the opening of the campaign," and also "to 
harry the frontiers and coasts north and south." 

General Clinton wrote back that he had found 
" Mr. Washington " a hard nut to crack, but he would 
do his level best, he said, "to strike at Washington 
while he was in motion." 

n 



yS HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The main American force was still in winter quarters 
in northern New Jersey, near New York. Various bri- 
gades were stationed up and down the Hudson as far as 
West Point. As at the beginning of the war, so now in 
1779, the line of the Hudson from Albany to New York 
was the key to the general situation. Its protection, as 
Washington had written, was of '' infinite consequence 
to our cause." 

The first real move in the game was made in May, 
when a large British force marched up, captured, and 
strongly fortified the two forts at Stony Point and Ver- 
planck's Point, only thirteen miles below West Point. 
The enemy thus secured the control of King's Ferry, 
where troops and supplies for the patriot army were 
ferried across the Hudson. 

Our spies now sent word to Washington that the 
British were ready to move on some secret service. 
The patriot army was at once marched up, and went 
into camp within easy reach of West Point, to wait 
for the next move in the game. Once more these 
far-famed Hudson Highlands were to become the 
storm center of the struggle. 

For some reason, Clinton did not push farther up the 
Hudson. On the contrary, he began to make raids into 
various parts of the country, from Martha's Vineyard to 
the James River. These raids were marked by cruelties 
unknown in the earlier vears of the war. The hated 
Trvon, once the royal governor of New York, led 



A MIDNKIHT SURPRISE 79 

twenty-six hundred men into Connecticut. His brutal 
soldiers killed unarmed and helpless men and women, 
and sacked and burned houses and churches. 

One of Clinton's objects in sending out the raiders 
was to coax Washington to weaken his army by sending 
out forces to offset them, or to tease him into making 
what he called a " false move." Washington was, of 
course, keenly alive to the misery brought upon the 
people of the country by these brutalities, but he was 
too wise a general to run any risk of losing his hold 
upon the line of the Hudson. The Continental army 
could not muster ten thousand men. Although not 
strong enough to begin a vigorous campaign, yet it was 
sufficiently powerful to hold the key to the Highlands. 

Washington could, if need be, strike a quick, hard 
blow, either in New England or farther south. It might 
be, to be sure, a sort of side play, and yet it was to have 
the effect of a great battle. Indeed, it was high time to 
give the enemy another surprise. 

At length it was decided to attack Stony Point. Any 
open assault, however, would be hopeless. This strong- 
hold, if taken at all, must be taken by night. 

What kind of place was this Stony Point ? 

It was a huge rocky bluff, shooting out into the river 
more than half a mile from the shore, and rising, at its 
highest point, nearly two hundred feet. It was joined 
to the shore by a marshy neck of land, crossed by a 
rude bridge, or causeway. 



8o HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The British had fortified the top of this rocky point 
with half a dozen separate batteries. The cannon were 
so mounted as to defend all sides. Between the fort 
and the mainland, two rows of logs were set into the 
ground, with their ends sharpened to a point and 
directed outwards, forming what is known in military 
language as an abatis. This stronghold was defended 
by six hundred men. 

Washington Irving well describes Stony Point as "a 
natural sentinel guarding the gateway of the far-famed 
Highlands of the Hudson." The British called it their 
" little Gibraltar," and defied the rebels to come and 
take it. 

And now for a leader ! Who was the best man to 
perform this desperate exploit? 

There was really no choice, for there was only one 
officer in the whole army who was fitted for the under- 
taking, — General Anthony Wayne. 

Wayne was a little over thirty years old. He was a 
fine-looking man with a high forehead and fiery hazel 
eyes. He had a youthful face, full of beauty. He liked 
handsome uniforms and fine military equipments. Some 
of his officers used to speak of him in fun as '' Dandy 
Wayne." But the men who followed their dashing, 
almost reckless leader called him " Mad Anthony," and 
this name has clung to him ever since. 

Wayne was, without doubt, the hardest fighter pro- 
duced on either side during the American Revolution. 



A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 



He had an eager love of battle ; and he was cautious, 
vigilant, and firm as a rock. This gallant officer eagerly- 
caught at the idea when the commander in chief told 
him what he wanted. And so it came to pass that Wash- 
ington did the planning, and Wayne did the fighting. 

Washington's plans were made with the greatest care. 
The dogs for three miles about the fort were killed the 
day before the intended attack, 
lest some indiscreet bark might 
alarm the garrison. The com- 
mander in chief himself rode 
down and spent the whole day 
looking over the situation. 
Trusty men, who knew every 
inch of the region, guarded 
every road and every trail by 
which spies and deserters could 
pass. 

" Ten minutes' notice to the 
enemy blasts all your hopes," wrote Washington to Wayne. 

The orders were " to take and keep all stragglers." 

" Took the widow Calhoun and another widow going 
to the enemy with chickens and greens," reported Captain 
McLane. " Drove off twenty head of horned cattle from 
their pasture." 

The hour of attack was to be midnight. Washington 
hoped for a dark night and even a rainy one. Not a gun 
was to be loaded except by two companies who were to 




General Anthony Wayne 



82 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

make the false attack. The bayonet alone was to be 
used, Wayne's favorite weapon. At Germantown, it was 
Wayne's men who drove the Hessians at the point of 
the bayonet. And at Monmouth, these men had met, 
with cold steel, the fierce bayonet charge of the far-famed 
British grenadiers. 

About thirteen hundred men of the famous light 
infantry were chosen to make the attack. Both officers 
and men were veterans and the flower of the Continental 
army. 

On the forenoon of July 15, the companies were called 
in from the various camps, and drawn up for inspec- 
tion as a battalion, "fresh-shaved and well-powdered," as 
Wayne had commanded. 

At twelve o'clock the inspection was over, but the men, 
instead of being sent to their quarters, were wheeled into 
the road, with the head of the column facing southward. 
The march to Stony Point had begun. 

" If any soldier loads his musket, or fires from the 
ranks, or tries to skulk in the face of danger, he is at 
once to be put to death by the officer nearest him." One 
soldier did begin to load his gun, saying that he did not 
know how to fight without firing. His captain warned 
him once. The soldier would not stop. The officer 
then ran his sword through him in an instant. The 
next day, however, the captain came to Colonel Hull 
and said he was sorry that he had killed the poor fellow. 
" You performed a painful service," said Hull, "by which^ 



A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 8^ 

perhaps, victory has been secured, and the Hfe of many 
a brave man saved. Be satisfied." 

All that hot July afternoon, the men picked their way 
along rough and narrow roads, up steep hillsides, and 
through swamps and dense ravines, often in single 
file. No soldier was allowed to leave the ranks, on 
any excuse whatever, except at a general halt, and then 
only in company with an officer. 

At eight o'clock the little army came to a final halt at 
a farmhouse, thirteen miles from their camp, and a little 
more than a mile back of Stony Point. Nobody was per- 
mitted to speak. The tired men dropped upon the ground, 
and ate in silence their supper of bread and cold meat. 

A little later, Wayne's order of battle was read. For 
the first time the men knew what w^as before them. No 
doubt many a brave fellow's knees shook and his cheek 
grew pale, when he thought of what might happen before 
another sunrise. 

Until half past eleven o'clock they rested. 

Each man now pinned a piece of white paper " to the 
most conspicuous part of his hat or his cap," so that, in 
the thick of the midnight fight, he might not run his 
bayonet through some comrade. No man was to speak 
until the parapet of the main fort was reached. Then 
all were to shout the watchword of the night, " The 
fort 's our own ! " 

One of the last things that Wayne did was to write 
a letter to a friend at his home in Philadelphia, dated 



84 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

" Eleven o'clock and near the hour and scene of car- 
nage." He wrote that he hoped his friend would look 
after the education of his children. 

"I am called to sup," he wrote, "but where to break- 
fast ? Either within the enemy's lines in triumph, or in 
another world." 

Half past eleven ! It was time to start. 

A negro, named Pompey, who sold cherries and straw- 
berries to the garrison, was used as a guide. This shrewd 
darkey had got the British password for the night, by 
claiming that his master would not let him come in during 
the daytime, because he was needed to hoe corn. You 
will be glad to know that Pompey, as a reward for this 
eventful night's service, never had to hoe corn again, 
and that his master not only gave him a horse to ride, 
but also set him free. 

Wayne divided his little army into two main columns, 
to attack right and left, having detached two companies, 
with loaded guns, to move in between the two columns 
and make a false attack. 

Each column was divided into three parts. A "for- 
lorn hope " of twenty men was to be the first to rush head- 
long into the hand to hand fight. Then followed an 
advance guard of one hundred and fifty men, who, with 
axes in hand and muskets slung, were to cut away the 
timbers. Last of all came the main body. 

The silent band reaches the edge of the marsh at 
midnight, the hour set by Washington for the assault. 



A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 



85 



Wayne himself leads the right column, to attack by the 
south approach. The tide has not ebbed, and the water 
is in places waist deep. The marsh is fully six hundred 
feet across. No matter for that! Straight ahead the 
column moves as if .^, 

on parade. Now they >j. 

have crossed, and are 
close to the outer 
defense. The British 
pickets hear the noise, 
open fire, and give the 
general alarm. The 
drums on the hill beat 
the "long roll." Quick 
and sharp come the 
orders. The redcoats 
leap from the bar- 
racks, and in a few 
moments every man 
is at his post. 

Up rush the pio- 
neers with their axes, and cut away the sharpened timbers 
the best they can in the darkness, while the bullets whiz 
over their heads. Then follow the main columns, who 
climb over, and form on the other side. Now they reach 
the second defense. They cut and tear away the sharp 
stakes. The bullets fall like hail. On, on, the two 
columns rush. They push up the steep hill, and dash 




Pompey guiding General Wayne 



86 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

for the main fort on the top. On the left, the "forlorn 
hope " has lost seventeen out of twenty men, either killed 
or wounded. 

Meanwhile, Colonel Murfree and his two companies 
take their stand directly in front of the fort, and open a 
brisk and rapid fire, to make the garrison believe that 
they are the real attacking party. The redcoats are 
surely fooled, for they hurry down with a strong force 
to meet them, only to find their fort captured before 
they can get back. 

Wayne is struck in the head by a musket ball, and 
falls. The blood flows over his face. He fears in the 
confusion that he has received his death w^ound. 

He cries to his aids, " Carry me into the fort and let 
me die at the head of the column." 

Two of his officers pick up their gallant leader, and 
hurry forward; but it is only a scalp wound, and Wayne 
returns to the fight. 

Wayne's column scales the ramparts. 

The first man over shouts, " The fort 's our own," and 
pulls down the British flag. 

The second main column follows. 

" The fort 's our own ! " " The fort 's our own ! " 
echoes and reechoes over the hills. 

The bayonet is now doing its grim work. The dark- 
ness is lighted only by the flashes from the guns of the 
redcoats. The bewildered British are driven at the 
point of the bayonet into the corners of the fort, and 



A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 



87 



cry, " Mercy, mercy, dear Americans ! " " Quarter ! quar- 
ter!" "Don't kill us! we surrender!" 

At one o'clock the work was done, — thirty minutes 
from the time the marsh was crossed ! As soon as they 
were sure of vic- 
tory, Wayne's 
men gave three 
rousing cheers. 
The British on 
the war vessels 
in the river, and 
at the fort on 
the opposite 
side of the river, 
answered; for 
they thought 
that the attack- 
ing party had 
been defeated. 
The only Brit- 
ish soldier to 
escape from 
Stony Point 
was a captain. 
Leaping into the Hudson, he swam a mile to the Vulture 
and told its captain what had happened. In this way 
the news of the disaster reached Sir Henry Clinton 
at breakfast. 




Wayne leads the Assault 



8S HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

After the surrender, Wayne wrote the following letter 
to Washington : 

Stony Point, i6th July, 1779, 2 o'clock. 

Dear General, 

The fort and garrison with Colonel Johnson are ours. 

Our officers and men behaved like men who are determined 

to be free. 

Yours most sincerely, 

Ant'y Wayne. 
General Washington. 

The news spread like wildfire. Wayne and his light 
infantry were the heroes of the hour. 

Two days afterwards, Washington, with his chief 
officers, rode down to Stony Point and heard the whole 
story. The commander in chief shook hands with the 
men, and " with joy that glowed in his countenance, 
here offered his thanks to Almighty God, that He had 
been our shield and protector amidst the dangers we 
had been called to encounter." 

Washington did not, of course, intend to hold Stony 
Point, for the enemy could besiege it by land and by 
water. The prisoners, the cannon, and the supplies were 
carried away, and very little was left to the foe but the 
bare rock of their " little Gibraltar." 

This exploit gave the Continental soldier greater 
confidence in himself. It proved to the British that 
the " rebel " could use the bayonet with as much bold- 
ness and effect as the proudest grenadier. The fight 



A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 89 

was not a great affair in itself. Only fifteen Americans 
were killed and eighty-three wounded; of the British, 
sixty-three were killed and some seventy wounded. 

As for Clinton, although he put on a bold face in the 
matter, and spoke of the event as an accident, he owned 
that he felt the blow keenly. 

" Mr. Washington " was still master of the situation. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 

IF what the proverb tells us is true, that it is always 
darkest before dawn, the patriots of the South in 
1780 must indeed have prayed for the light. Affairs 
had gone rapidly from bad to worse. Sir Henry Clinton 
had come again from New York, and in May of that year 
had captured Charleston with all of Lincoln's army. 

Sir Henry went back to New York, leaving Lord 
Cornwallis in command. Washington desired to send 
his right-hand man, General Greene, to stem the tide of 
British success, but the Continental Congress chose to 
send General Gates. 

In August, this weak general was utterly defeated in 
the battle of Camden, in South Carolina. How the 
bitter words of General Charles Lee, " Beware lest your 
Northern laurels change to Southern willows," must 
have rung in his ears ! Gates fled from Camden like 
the commonest coward in the army. Mounted on a 
fast horse, he did not stop until he reached Charlotte, 
seventy miles away. 

No organized American force now held the field in 

the South, and the red dragoons easily overran Georgia 

and South Carolina. There seemed to be little left for 

90 



THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 9 1 

Cornwallis to do; for the three Southern colonies were 
for the time ground under the iron heel of the enemy. 

Crushing blows, however, only nerved the leaders, 
Sumter, Pickens, Marion, Davie, and others, to greater 
efforts. The insolence, the cruelty, and the tyranny of 
the British soldiers, and the bitter hatred of the Tories, 
had brought to the front a new class of patriots. These 
men cared little about the original cause of the war, but 
the burning of their houses, the stealing of their cattle 
and their horses, and the brutal insulting of their wives 
and their daughters, aroused them to avenge their wrongs 
to the bitter end. And many were the skirmishes they 
brought about with the British. 

Thirty days had now passed since the battle of 
Camden, and Cornwallis on his return march had not 
yet reached the Old North State. It was still a long 
way to Virginia, and the road thither was beset with 
many dangers. 

Meanwhile, the British commander had intrusted to 
two of his ofBcers, Tarleton and Ferguson, the task of 
pillaging plantations, raising and drilling troops among 
the Tories, and breaking up the bands of amied patriots. 

The brutal manner in which Tarleton and his men 
plundered, burned, and hanged does not concern this 
story. 

Ferguson was the colonel of a regular regiment that 
had been recruited in this country, instead of in England. 
With his kind heart and his winning manner, he was bold 



92 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

and brave, and always ready to take desperate chances in 
battle. He was noted for hard riding, night attacks, and 
swift movements with his troopers ; and as a marksman 
he was unsurpassed. In short, Ferguson was just the 
leader to win the respect and the admiration of the Tories ; 
and they eagerly enlisted in his service. 

With a few regulars and a large force of loyalists, he 
pushed his victories to the foot of the mountains, in the 
western borders of the Carolinas. For the first time, he 
learned that over the high ranges in front of him were 
the homes of the men who had been causing him annoy- 
ance, and who were harboring those that had fled before 
his advance. 

The proud young Briton now made the mistake of 
his life. He sent a prisoner, Samuel Phillips, over to 
the frontier settlements, to Colonel Isaac Shelby, with 
the insolent message that, if the •"backwater" men did 
not quit resisting the royal arms, he would march his 
army over the mountains, and would straightway lay 
waste their homes with fire and sword, and hang their 
leaders. 

He little knew what kind of men he had stirred to 
wrath. The frontier settlers of Franklin and Holston, 
which grew into the great commonwealth of Tennessee, 
were, for the most part, Scotclvlrish people. They had 
grappled with the wilderness, and had hewn out homes 
for themselves. Along with their log cabins they had 
built meetinghouses and schoolhouses. Their life was 



THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 93 

full of ever-present peril and hardship; for they were 
engaged in a ceaseless struggle with the Indians. The 
minister preached with his gun at his side, and the 
men listened with their rifles within their grasp. 

As we should expect, these hardy settlers were gen- 
erally stanch patriots. They believed in Washington 
and in the Continental Congress. They knew that 
British gold bribed the Indians, and furnished them 
with weapons to butcher their women and children. 
It was British gold, too, that hired the wild and lawless 
among them to enlist in the invading army ; and it was 
British ofHcers that drilled them to become expert in 
killing their brethren of the lowlands. 

At the time of the Revolution, these backwoodsmen 
were still fighting with the savages, and so had not 
taken an active part in the war on the seaboard. Like 
a rear guard of well-seasoned veterans, they stood between 
the Indians and their people on the coast. 

Now these hardy mountaineers took Ferguson's threat 
seriously. Their Scotch-Irish blood was up. 

Colonel Shelby, one of the county lieutenants of 
Washington County, rode posthaste to John Sevier's 
home, sixty miles away, to carry Ferguson's threat. 

Sevier lived on the Nolichucky River, and from his 
deeds of daring and his hospitality was nicknamed 
" Chucky Jack." When Shelby arrived, it was a day 
of merrymaking. They were having a barbecue ; that 
is, they were roasting oxen whole on great spits; and a 



94 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

horse race was to be run. The colonel told his story, 
and the merrymakers agreed to turn out. 

Shelby now rode home at full speed to muster his own 
men, and sent urgent word to Colonel William Campbell, 
a famous Indian fighter, who lived forty miles away, to 
call out the Holston Virginians. 

The place appointed for meeting was at Sycamore 
Shoals, a central point on the Watauga River. The day 
set was September 25. 

Hither came Shelby and Sevier with about five hun- 
dred men, William Campbell with four hundred Vir- 
ginians, and McDowell with about one hundred and 
sixty refugees from North Carolina. 

Word was sent to Colonel Cleveland, a hunter and 
Indian fighter of Wilkes County in North Carolina, to 
come with all the men he could raise east of the 
mountains. 

Colonel Sevier tried in vain to borrow money to furnish 
the men with horses and supplies. The people were 
willing to give their last dollar, but they had paid out 
all their money for land, and the cash was in the hands 
of the county entry taker, John Adair. 

Sevier appealed to him. 

This patriot's reply is historic: "I have no authority 
by law, Colonel Sevier, to make that disposition of this 
money. It belongs to the treasury of North Carolina, 
and I dare not appropriate a penny of it to any purpose. 
But if the country is overrun by the British, liberty is 



THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 95 

gone. Let the money go, too. Take it. If the enemy, 
by its use, is driven from the country, I can trust that 
country to justify and vindicate my conduct. Take it." 

This money, thirteen thousand dollars in silver and 
gold, was taken, and the supplies bought. Shelby and 
Sevier pledged themselves to refund the money, or to 
have the act legalized by the legislature. 

September 25 was a day of intense excitement in 
those frontier settlements. The entire military force of 
what is now Tennessee met at Sycamore Shoals. The 
younger and more vigorous men were to march, while the 
older men with poorer guns were to remain behind, to 
help the women defend their homes against the savages. 
But all came, to bid good-by to husbands, to brothers, 
and to lovers. Food, horses, guns, blankets, — everything 
except money was brought without stint. 

The backwoodsmen were mounted on swift, wiry 
horses. Their long hunting shirts were girded with 
bead-worked belts. Some wore caps made of mink 
or of coonskins, with the tails hanging down behind; 
others had soft hats, in each of which was fastened 
either a sprig of evergreen or a buck's tail. 

Nearly all were armed with what was called the 
Deckhard rifle, remarkable for the precision and the 
distance of its shot. Every man carried a tomahawk 
and a scalping knife. There was not a bayonet in 
the whole force. Here and there an oflficer wore a 
sword. 



96 



HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



There was no staff, no commissary, no quartermaster, 
and no surgeon. 

Early in the morning of September 26, the httle army 
was ready to march. Before leaving camp, all met in an 
open grove to hear their minister, the Rev. Samuel Doak, 

invoke divine blessing 
on their perilous under- 
taking. 

Years before, this 
God-fearing man had 
crossed the mountains, 

r i^%\wi /^^$^^% '^^^^ fiea- bitten gray 

horse" loaded with 
Bibles, and had cast 
his lot with the Hol- 
ston settlers. By his 
energy in founding 
churches and in build- 
ing schoolhouses, as 
well as by his skill in 
shooting Indians, he had become a potent influence for 
good among these frontier people. 

Every man doffed his hat and bowed his head on 
his long rifle, as the white-headed Presbyterian prayed 
in burning words that they might stand bravely in 
battle, and that the sword of the Lord and of Gideon 
might smite their foes. 




Praying for the Success of the Riflemen 



THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 97 

Our little army now pushed on over the mountains. 
On the third day they crossed the Blue Ridge, and saw 
far away the fertile valleys of the upper Catawba. The 
next day they reached the lovely lowlands, where Colonel 
Cleveland with three hundred and fifty militia joined them. 
Hitherto, each band of the mountain army had been 
under the command of its own leader. Some of the men 
were unruly; others were disposed to plunder. This 
would never do, if they were to be successful ; and so, 
on October 2, it was decided to give the supreme 
command to Colonel Cleveland. 

Before the army set out on the following day, the 
colonels told their men what was expected of them. 

" Now, my brave fellows," said Colonel Cleveland, " the 
redcoats are at hand. We must up and at them. When 
the pinch comes, I shall be with you." 

" Everybody must be his own officer ! " cried Colonel 
Shelby. "Give them Indian play, boys; and now if a 
single man among you wants to go back home, this is 
your chance; let him step three paces to the rear." 
Not a man did so. 

The pioneer army continued its march, picking up 
small bands of refugees. When they reached Gilbert- 
town the next night, they numbered nearly fifteen hun- 
dred men. They hoped to find Ferguson at this place, 
but the wily partisan had sharp eyes and quick ears. 
He had been told by his Tory friends that the army of 
riflemen were after him. 



98 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Briton sent posthaste to Cornwallis for more men ; 
he called upon the Tories to rally to his support ; and 
he issued a proclamation, in which he called the back- 
woodsmen " the dregs of mankind," " a set of mongrels," 
and other bad names. " Something must be done," he 
wrote to Cornwallis. 

All this showed to the patriot riflemen tliat Ferguson 
was retreating because he feared them. Doubtless he 
would have escaped easily enough from ordinary soldiers ; 
but his pursuers were made of different stuff. They had 
hunted wild beasts and savages all their lives. Now 
they were after the redcoats in the same way they would 
pursue a band of Indians. They had come over the 
mountains to fight, and fight they would. 

Seven hundred and fifty men, mounted on the stron- 
gest horses, now hurried forward, leaving tlie rest to 
follow. 

At sunset, on October 6, they reached Cowpens, w^here 
three months later Morgan was to defeat Tarleton. 
Here several hundred militia under noted partisan 
leaders joined them. Seated round their blazing camp 
fires, the hungry men roasted for supper the corn which 
they had stripped from the field of a rich Tory. 

The colonels decided in council to pick out about nine 
hundred men, and with these to push on all night in 
pursuit of their hated foe. Some were so eager to fight 
that they followed on foot, and actually arrived in time 
for the battle. 



THE DEFEAT OF I'HE RED DRAC^OONS 



99 



All this time Ferguson was working to keep out of 
the way of the patriots. Several large bands of Tories 
were already on their way to help him. He also expected 
help from Cornwallis. The one thing needed was a day 
or two of time, and then he would be able to make a 
stand against 
his pursuers. 

On the same 
night of Octo- 
ber 6, Fergu- 
son halted at 
King's Moun- 
tain, about a 

day's march 

fro m t h e 

riflemen at 

Cowpens, and 

thirty-five 

miles from the 

camp of Corn- 

wallis. The 




A Map of the Military Operations in the Carolinas 



ridge on which he pitched his camp was nearly half a 
mile long, and about sixty feet above the level of the 
valley. Its steep sides were covered with timber. 

The next day the British did not move. The heavy 
baggage wagons were massed along the northeast part 
of the rid^e, while the soldiers camped on the south 
side. " '^ "• 



lOO HERO ST0RIF:S from AMERICAN HISTORY 

In his pride, the haughty young Briton declared that 
he could defend the hill against any rebel force, and " that 
God Almighty Himself could not drive him from it." 

Through that dark and rainy night the mountaineers 
marched. It rained hard all the next forenoon, but the 
men wrapped their blankets and the skirts of their hunt- 
ing shirts round their gunlocks, and hurried on after 
Ferguson. A few of Shelby's men stopped at a Tory's 
house. 

" How many are there of you?" asked a young girl. 

" Enough," said one of the riflemen, '' to whip Fergu- 
son, if we can catch him." 

"He is on that hill yonder," replied the girl, pointing 
to the high range about three miles away. 

Shelby had sent out Enoch Gilmer as a spy. He 
came back, saying that he had met a young woman who 
had been at the enemy's camp to sell chickens, and that 
Ferguson was encamped on the spot where some hunters 
had been the year before. These same hunters were 
with Shelby, and at once said they knew every inch of 
the way. Two captured Tories were compelled to tell 
how the British leader was dressed. 

It was now three o'clock. It had stopped raining, and 
the sun was shining. All was hurry and bustle. The 
plan was to surround the hill, to give the men a better 
chance to fire upward, without firing into each other. 

When the patriots came within about a mile of the 
ridge, they dismounted and tied their . horses. The 



THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 



lOI 



watchword was " Buford," the name of the brave officer 
whose troops had l^een massacred by Tarleton after their 
surrender. 
Each man was 
ordered to 
fight for him- 
self. He might 
retreat before 
the British 
bayonets, but 
he must rally 
at once to the 
fight, and let 
the redcoats 
have " Indian 
play." 

Sevier led 
the right wing. 
Some of his 
men by hard 
riding got to 
the rear of 
Ferguson's 
army, and cut 

-P . . Charging the British at King's Mountain 

ort the only 

chance for retreat. Cleveland had charge of the left wing, 
while Campbell and Shelby were to attack in front. 
So swiftlv did the different detachments reach their 




I02 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

places that Ferguson found himself attacked on every 
side at once. 

On horseback the gallant Briton leads his regulars in 
a bayonet charge down the steep hillside. With the 
Indian war whoop, which echoes and reechoes, Campbell's 
riflemen rush forward. They have no bayonets, and 
are driven down the hill. In a voice of thunder, Camp- 
bell rallies his men, and up the hill they go with a still 
deadlier fire, as the regulars retreat. 

Now Shelby's men swarm up on the other side. Again 
the bayonets drive these new foes down the rocky cliffs. 
No sooner do the redcoats retire, than up comes 
Shelby again at the head of his men, nearer the top 
than before. 

Meanwhile the riflemen, behind every tree and every 
rock, were picking off the redcoats. Clad in a hunting 
shirt, and blowing his silver whistle, the brave Ferguson 
dashes here and there to rally his men. He cuts and 
slashes with his sword until it is broken off at the hilt. 
Two horses are killed under him. 

Some of the Tories raise a white flag. Ferguson 
rides up and cuts it down. A second flag is raised 
elsewhere. He rides there and cuts that down. 

Now he flies at Sevier's riflemen, who had just made 
their way to the top of the hill. At once they recognize 
their man. In an instant, half a dozen bullets strike the 
gallant officer, and he falls dead from his horse. No 
longer is the shrill whistle heard. 



THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 103 

Colonel De Peyster, the next in command, bravely 
keeps up the fight, but the deadly rifles have done their 
work. The British are hemmed in and there is no 
escape. At the head of their men the several colonels 
arrive at the top of the hill about the same time. The 
Tories are now huddled together near the baggage 
wagons. 

" Quarter ! quarter ! " they cry everywhere. 

" Remember Buford ! " madly shout the victorious 
patriots. 

" Throw down your arms, if you want quarter!" cries 
Shelby. 

In despair, De Peyster at last raises a white flag, and 
white handkerchiefs are waved from ramrods. Some of 
the younger backwoodsmen did not know what a white 
flag meant, and kept on firing. The colonels ordered 
them to stop, and then made the Tories take off their 
hats and sit down on the ground. 

There had been fierce and bloody work this beauti- 
ful autumn afternoon, on the crest of that rocky hill. 
Friends, neighbors, and relatives, in their bitter hatred, 
taunted and jeered one another, as they shot and stabbed 
in the desperate struggle. 

Ferguson had about eleven hundred men in the action. 
Of these about four hundred were killed, wounded, or 
missing, and some seven hundred made prisoners. Of 
the patriots, twenty-eight were killed and about sixty 
wounded. 



I04 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Under bold and resolute leaders, the backwoods rifle- 
men had swept over the mountains like a Highland clan. 
Their work done, they wished to return home. They 
knew too well the dangers of an Indian attack on those 
they had left in their distant log cabins. 

After burying their dead, and loading their horses 
with the captured guns and supplies, the victors shoul- 
dered their rifles, and, carrying their wounded on litters 
made of the captured tents, vanished from the mountains 
as suddenly as they had appeared. 

Such was the defeat of the red dragoons at King's 
Mountain. It proved to be one of the decisive battles 
of the Revolution, and was the turn of the tide of British 
success in the South. The courage of the Southern 
patriots rose at a bound, and the Tories of the Carolinas 
never recovered from the blow. 



CHAPTER VIII 
FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR GENERAL 

ON July 3, 1775, under the great elm on Cambridge 
Common, Washington took command of the patriot 
army. During the siege of Boston, which followed, 
his headquarters were in that fine old mansion, the 
Craigie house, where, from time to time, met men whose 
names became great in the history of the Revolution. 

Hither came to consult with the commander in chief 
three men who died hated and scorned by their country- 
men. The first was Horatio Gates, a vainglorious man, 
given to intrigue and treachery. Next came tall and 
slovenly Charles Lee of Virginia, a restless adventurer, 
who, by his cowardice in the battle of Monmouth, stirred 
even Washington to anger. Then there was a young 
man for whom Washington had a peculiar liking on 
account of his great personal bravery, who afterward 
became the despised Benedict Arnold. 

But here were also gathered men of another stamp, — 
men whom the nation delights to honor. From the 
granite hills of New Hampshire, came rough and ready 
John Stark, who afterwards whipped the British at 
Bennington. From little Rhode Island, came Nathanael 

Greene, a young Quaker, who began life as a blacksmith, 

105 



io6 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

but who became the ablest general of the Revolution 
except Washington. 

Into this group of patriot leaders came also Daniel 
Morgan of Virginia. Little is known of the early life 
of this remarkable man. He would rarely say anything 
about his family. It is believed that he was born of 
obscure Welsh people, in New Jersey, about the year 

At seventeen, Morgan could barely read and write. 
He was rude of speech and uncouth in manners, but 
his heart was brave, and he scorned to lie. 

The next two years did wonders for this awkward boy. 
He grew to be over six feet tall, with limbs of fine build, 
and with muscles like iron. In some way he had found 
time to study, and was regarded by the village people 
as a promising young fellow. 

Stirring times were at hand. The bitter struggle 
between the French and the English in the Ohio valley 
was raging. 

Morgan at once enlisted in the Virginia troops, and 
served one of the companies as a teamster. An incident 
revealed the stuff of which the 3^oung wagoner was made. 
The captain of his company had trouble with a surly 
fellow who was a great bully and a skillful boxer. It 
was agreed, according to the unwritten rules of the 
time, that the matter should be settled by a fight at the 
next stopping place ; and so when the troops halted for 
dinner, out strode the captain to meet his foe. 



FROM TEAMSTER lO MAJOR GENERAL 



107 



" You must not fight this man," said Morgan, stepping 
to the front. 

" Why not ? " asked the officer. 

'^ Because you are our captain," repHed the young 
teamster, " and if the fellow whips you, we shall all be 
disgraced. Let me 
fighthim, andif he 
whips me, it will 
not hurt the name 
of the company." 

The captain said 
it would never do, 
but at last yielded. 
Morgan promptly 
gave the bully a 
sound thrashing. 

After the defeat 
of Braddock, in 
1755, the French 
and the redskins 
wreaked their vengeance upon the terrified frontier settle- 
ments. A regiment of a thousand men was raised, and 
Washington was made its colonel. With this small force, 
he was supposed to guard a frontier of two hundred and 
fifty miles. 

Morgan enlisted as a teamster. It was his duty to 
carry supplies to the various military posts on this long 
frontier. This meant almost daily exposure to all kinds 




Washington taking Command of the American 
Army, at Cambridge 



lo8 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

of dangers. It was a rough, hard school for a young 
man of twenty ; but it made him an expert with the rifle 
and the tomahawk, and a master of Indian warfare, 
which was so useful to him in after years. 

During one of these wild campaigns on the frontier, a 
British captain took offense at something young Morgan 
had said or done, and struck him w^ith the flat of his 
sword. This was too much for the high-strung teamster. 
He straightway knocked the redcoat officer senseless. 

A drumhead court-martial sentenced the young Vir- 
ginian to receive one hundred lashes on the bare back. 
He was at once stripped, tied up, and punished. Morgan 
said in joke that there was a miscount, and that he 
actually received only ninety-nine blows. With his 
wonderful power of endurance, the young fellow stood 
the punishment like a hero, and came out of it alive 
and defiant. 

This act, extreme even in those days of British cruelty, 
doubtless nerved him to incredible deeds of bravery in 
fighting the hated redcoats. 

Shortly after this, he became a private in the militia. 
He made his mark when the French and Indians attacked 
a fort near Winchester. The story is that he killed four 
savages in as many minutes. 

The young Virginian never drove any more army 
wagons. From this time, he stood forth as a born fighter 
and a leader of men. Such was his coolness in danger, 
his sound judgment, and, more than all else, his great 



FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR GENERAL 



109 



influence over his men, that he was recommended to 
Governor Dinwiddie for a captain's commission. 

" What ! " exclaimed the governor, " to a camp boxer 
and a teamster? 

Still, the best men of Virginia urged it, and the royal 
governor so far yielded as to give him the commission 
of an ensign. 

Not long afterwards, in one of the bloody fights with 
the French and Indians, Morgan was shot through the 








^ -"u < 



Morgan's Escape from the Indian 

back of the neck. The bullet went through his mouth 
and came out through the left cheek, knocking out all 
the teeth on the left side. Supposing that he was 



no HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

mortally wounded, and resolved not to lose his scalp, 
the fainting rifleman clasped his arms tightly round the 
neck of his good horse, and galloped for life through the 
woods. A fleet Indian ran after him, tomahawk in 
hand. Finding at last that the horse was leaving him 
behind, the panting savage hurled his weapon, and with 
a wild yell gave up the chase. 

The hardy frontiersman lay for months hovering 
between life and death, but finally recovered, and was 
once more in the thick of the wild warfare. 

In his old age, Morgan used to tell his grandchildren 
of the fiendish look on the Indian's face while he felt 
sure of another scalp, and he would also imitate the hor- 
rible yell the redskin made when he was forced to give 
up the pursuit. 

At last the war was over, and Morgan went back to 
his farm. He brought home with him, however, the 
vices of his wild campaign life. He used strong drink, 
and gambled. Far and near, he was noted as a boxer 
and a wrestler. Pugilists came from a distance to try 
their skill with the noted Indian fighter and athlete, who 
weighed over two hundred pounds, and yet had not an 
extra ounce of flesh. 

But these were only passing incidents in the life of the 
great man. With a giant's frame, he had a tender heart. 
His good angel came to him in the person of a farmer's 
daughter, Abigail Bailey. She had great beauty; and 
she was a loving. Christian woman. 



FROM teamsti:r to maior general 



I n 



They were soon married, and, as the fairy books 
say, were happy ever after. As if by a magic spell, the 
strong man left his tavern chums and their rough sports, 
his b o X i n g, his 
gambling, and his 
strong drink, and to 
the day of his death 
lived an upright 
Hfe. 

The young wife ^ 
taught her husband }l « 
to believe in God, ^^^'■ 
and to trust in 
prayer. In his 
s i m p 1 e - li e a r t e d 
way, Morgan tells 
us that, just before 
the fierce attack on 
the fort at Quebec, 
he knelt in the 
drifting snow, and 
felt that God had 
nerved him to fio-ht. 
In riding over the 
battlefield after his 
great victory at Cowpens, old soldiers saw with wonder 
the fierce fighter stop his horse and prav aloud, and, with 
tears running down his face, thank God for the victory. 




Riflemen treating with Indians in the 
Wilderness of Virginia 



112 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

His men never scoffed at their leader's prayers, for it 
was noticed that the harder " old Dan Morgan " prayed, 
the more certain they were of being soon led into the 
jaws of death itself. 

Meanwhile, he and his young bride were thrifty and 
prosperous. They were both ignorant of books, but 
they studied early and late to make up for lost time. 
For the next nine years, Morgan, with his household 
treasures, — his good wife, and his two little daughters, 
— lived in the pure atmosphere of a Christian home. 

The storm cloud of the Revolution was now gathering 
thick and fast. Events followed each other with startling 
rapidity. Morgan watched keenly. He never did any- 
thing in a half-hearted way ; and we may be sure that he 
took up the cause of the Revolution with all the fervor 
of his strong nature. 

After the bloodshed at Lexington, the Continental 
Congress called for ten companies from Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia. Morgan received his commis- 
sion as captain, five days after Bunker Hill. When he 
shouted, " Come, boys, who's for the camp before Cam- 
bridge ? " every man in his section turned out. 

In less than ten days, Morgan at the head of ninety-six 
expert riflemen started for Boston. It was six hundred 
miles away, but they marched the distance in twenty-one 
days without the loss of a single man. 

One day as Washington was riding out to inspect the 
redoubts, he met these Virginians. 



FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR GENERAL II3 

Morgan halted his men, and saluted the commander 
in chief, saying, " From the right bank of the Potomac, 
General ! " 

Washington dismounted, and, walking along the line, 
shook hands with each of them. 

Late in the fall of 1775, Morgan and his famous sharp- 
shooters marched with about a thousand other troops on 
Arnold's ill-fated expedition to Quebec. This campaign, 
as you have read, was one of the most remarkable exploits 
of the war. 

In the attack upon Quebec, after Arnold had been 
carried wounded from the field, and Montgomery had 
been killed, Morgan took Arnold's place and fought like 
a hero. He forced his way so far into the city that he 
and all his men were surrounded and captured. 

A British officer who greatly admired his daring visited 
him in prison, and offered him the rank and pay of a 
colonel in the royal army. 

" I hope, sir," answered the Virginian patriot, " you 
wall never again insult me, in my present distressed and 
unfortunate situation, by making me offers which plainly 
imply that you think me a scoundrel." 

Soon after his release. Congress voted him a colonel's 
commission, with orders to raise a regiment. The regi- 
ment reported for service at Morristown, New Jersey, in 
the winter of 1776. 

Five hundred of the best riflemen were selected from 
the various regiments, and put under the command of 



114 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Colonel Morgan. He was well fitted to be the leader of 
this celebrated corps of sharpshooters. They were always 
to be at the front, to watch every movement of the 
enemy, and to furnish prompt and accurate news for 
Washington. They were to harass the British, and to 
fight with the enemy's outposts for every inch of ground. 

Meanwhile, in the fall of 1777, Burgoyne, with a large 
army of British, Hessians, and Indians, marched down 
from Canada, through the valley of the Hudson. The 
country was greatly alarmed. Washington could ill 
spare Morgan, but generously sent him with his riflemen 
to help drive back the invaders. 

Two great battles, the first at Freeman's Farm, the 
second at Saratoga, sealed Burgoyne's fate. In each 
battle, the sharpshooters did signal service. Before their 
deadly rifles, the British oflicers, clad in scarlet uniforms, 
fell with frightful rapidity. They were a terror to the 
Hessians. As Morgan would often say in high glee, 
" The very sight of my riflemen was always enough for 
the Hessian pickets. They would scamper into their lines 
as if the devil drove them, shouting in all the English 
they knew, ' Rebel in de bush ! rebel in de bush ! ' " 

After the surrender, when Burgoyne was introduced 
to Morgan, he took him warmly by the hand and said, 
" Sir, you command the finest regiment in the world." 

For over a year and a half after Saratoga, Morgan and 
his riflemen were attached to Washington's army, and 
saw hard service. Their incessant attacks on the enemy's 



FROM TKAMSri<:R TO MA|OR CiluNI^RAL 



15 



outposts, and their numberless picket skirmishes, are all 
lost to history, and are now forgotten. 

Just before the battle of Monmouth, a painful disease, 
known as sciatica, brought on by constant exposure and 
hardship, disabled Morgan. Sick and discouraged because 
he had seen officers who were favorites with Congress pro- 
moted over his head, he, like 
Greene, Stark, and Schuyler, 
now left the army for a time. 

But after Gates was defeated 
at Camden, the fighting blood 
of the old Virginian was greatly 
stirred. He declared that no 
man should have any personal 
feeling when his country was 
in peril. So he hurried down 
South, and took, under Gates, 
his old place as colonel. 

After the battle at King's Mountain, Congress very 
wisely made Morgan a brigadier general. 

The glorious and ever-memorable victory at Cowpens 
made him more famous than ever before. Hitherto he 
had fought in battles that other men had planned. 
Now he had a chance to plan and to fight as he pleased. 
It was not a great battle so far as numbers were con- 
cerned, but "in point of tactics," says John Fiske, the 
historian, " it was the most brilliant battle of the war 
for independence." 




General Daniel Morgan 



Il6 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

After leading eleven hundred men into the northeast 
part of South Carolina, to cut off Cornwallis from the 
seacoast, General Greene gave Morgan the command of 
about a thousand men, with orders to march to the south- 
west, and threaten the inland posts and their garrisons. 
Cornwallis, the English earl, scarcely knew which way 
to turn ; but he followed Greene's example, and, dividing 
his army, sent Colonel Tarleton to crush Morgan. 

Tarleton, confident of success, dashed away with his 
eleven hundred troopers to pounce upon the "old wag- 
oner" and crush him at a single blow. Morgan, well 
trained in the school of Washington and Greene, and 
wishing just then to avoid a decisive battle, skillfully fell 
back until he found a spot in which to fight after his 
own fashion. 

His choice was at a place where cattle were rounded 
up and branded, known as Cowpens. A broad, deep 
river, which lay in the rear, cut off all hope of retreat. 
A long, thickly wooded slope commanded the enemy's 
approach for a great distance. Morgan afterwards said 
that he made this choice purposely, that the militia 
might know they could not run away, but must fight 
or die. 

At Cowpens, then, the patriot army lay encamped the 
night before the expected battle. A trusty spy was sent 
to Tarleton, to say that the Americans had faced about, 
and were waiting to fight him sometime the next day. 
There was no fuss and feathers about Mors^an. In the 



FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR (xENERAE 1 17 

evening, he went round among the various camp fires, 
and with fatherly words talked the situation over. 

" Stand by me, boys," said he in his blunt way, " and 
the old 'wagoner' will crack his whip for sure over 
Tarleton to-morrow." 

The British commander, eager to strike a sudden blow, 
put his army in motion at three o'clock in the morning. 
He was not early enough, however, to catch the old rifle- 
man napping. Morgan had rested his men during the 
night, and given them a good breakfast early in the 
morning. When Tarleton appeared upon the scene 
about sunrise, he found the patriots ready. 

In the skirmish line, Morgan placed one hundred and 
twenty riflemen that could bring down a squirrel from 
the tallest tree. The militia, under the command of 
Colonel Pickens, were drawn up about three hundred 
yards in front of the hill. Along the brow of the hill, 
and about one hundred and fifty yards behind the militia, 
w^ere the veterans of the Continental line. And beyond 
the brow of the hill, he stationed Colonel Washington with 
his cavalry, out of sight, and ready to move in an instant. 

" Be firm, keep cool, take good aim. Give two volleys 
at killing distance, and fall back," were the orders to the 
raw militia. 

" Don't lose heart," said Morgan to the Continentals, 
"when the skirmishers and the militia fall back. 'Tis 
a part of the plan. Stand firm, and fire low. Listen for 
my turkey call." 



Il8 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Morgan was in the habit of using a small turkey call 
such as hunters use to decoy turkeys. In the heat of 
battle he would blow a loud blast. This he said was to 
let the boys know that he was still alive and w^as watch- 
ing them fight. 

Tarleton, unmindful of the fact that Morgan's retreat 
was " sullen, stern, and dangerous," had marched his men 
all night through the mud. They were tired out and 
hungry. Never mind, their restless leader would crush 
"old wagoner" first, and eat breakfast afterw^ards. He 
could hardly wait to form his line or to allow his reserves 
to come up. 

The battle begins in real earnest. The militia fire 
several well-aimed volleys, and fall back behind the Con- 
tinentals. With a wild hurrah, the redcoats advance on 
the run. They are met with a deadly volley. They 
overlap the Continentals a little, who fall back a short 
distance, to save their left flank. Tarleton hurls his 
whole force upon them. The veterans stand their ground 
and pour in a heavy and well-sustained fire. Quick as a 
flash, Morgan sees his golden chance. 

" They are coming on like a mob ! " shouts Colonel 
Washington to the gallant Colonel Howard, the com- 
mander of the Continentals. " Face about and fire, and 
I will charge them." 

Then is heard the shrill whistle of the turkey call, and 
Morgan's voice rings along the lines, " Face about ! One 
good fire, and the victory is ours ! " 



FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR GENERAL 



119 



Like a thunderbolt, Colonel Washington and his 
troopers, flying their famous crimson flag, sweep down 
in a semicircle 
round the hill, 
and charge the 
enemy's right 
flank. 

" Charge bay- 
onets!" shouts 
Howard. 

Instantly the 
splendid veterans 
face about, open 
a deadly fire, and 
charge the dis- 
ordered British 
line with the 
bayonet. 

All was over in 
a few minutes. 
The old "team- 
ster " had set his 
trap, and the 
redcoats were 
caught. Finding 

themselves surrounded, six hundred threw down their 
guns, and cried for quarter. The rest, including 
Tarleton himself, by hard riding, escaped. 




The Carolina Militia resisting the British 
Grenadiers at Cowpens 



I20 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Colonel Washington and his troopers rode in hot haste 
to capture Tarleton, if possible. In the eagerness of 
his pursuit, Washington rode in advance of his men. 
Tarleton and two of his aids turned upon him. Just as 
one of the aids was about to strike the colonel with his 
saber, a trooper came up and disabled the redcoat's arm. 
Before the other aid could strike, he w^as wounded by 
Washington's little bugler, who, too small to handle a 
sword, fired his pistol. Tarleton now made a thrust at 
the colonel with his sword. The latter parried the blow, 
and wounded his enemy in the hand. 

As the story is told, this wound was twice the subject 
for witty remarks by two young women, the daughters of 
a North Carolina patriot. Tarleton remarked to one of 
these sisters that he understood Colonel W^ashington 
was an unlettered fellow, hardly able to write his name. 

" Ah, Colonel," said the lady, " you ought to know 
better, for you can testify that he knows how to make 
his mark." 

At another time, Tarleton said with a sneer to 
the other sister, " I should be happy to see Colonel 
Washington." 

" If you had looked behind you at the battle of Cowpens, 
Colonel Tarleton," she replied, " you would have enjoyed 
that pleasure." 

In the battle of Cowpens, the British lost two hundred 
and thirty, killed and wounded. The Americans had 
twelve killed and sixty-one wounded, 



FROM teamstp:r to major (;enp:ral 



12 



Morgan did not rest for one moment after his victory. 
He knew that Lord Cornwallis, stung by the defeat of 
Tarleton, would do liis best to crush him before he 
could rejoin Greene's army. By forced marches, he 
got to the fords of the Catawba first, and when his 
lordship reached the 
river, he learned that 
the patriots had 
crossed with all their 
prisoners and booty 
two days before, and 
were well on their 
way to join General 
Greene. 

Soon after the bat- 
tle of Cowpens, re- 
peated attacks of his 
old enemy, sciatica, so 

disabled Moro^an that Hand to Hand Fight between Colonel Washing- 

hr 1 , . • ton and Colonel Tarleton 

e was forced to retn-e 

from the service and go back to his home, in Virginia. 

During the summer of 1780, when the British invaded 
the Old Dominion, he again took the field. With Wayne 
and Lafayette, he took part in a series of movements 
which led to the capture of Cornwallis. The exposure 
of camp life again brought on a severe illness. 

'' I lay out the night after coming into camp," Morgan 
wrote General Greene, " and caught cold." 




122 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Crippled and suffering great pain, he went home with 
the behef that he had dealt his last blow for the cause 
he loved so well. He afterward received from Washing- 
ton, Greene, Jefferson, Lafayette, and other leaders, letters 
that stir our blood after so many years. 

From a simple teamster, Morgan had become a major 
general. After taking part in fifty battles, he lived to 
serve his country in peace as well as in war, and was 
returned to Congress the second time. His valor at the 
North is commemorated, as you already know, by the 
statue on the monument at Saratoga. In the little city 
of Spartanburg, in South Carolina, stands another figure 
of Daniel Morgan, the " old wagoner of the Alleghanies," 
the hero of Cowpens. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FINAL VICTORY 

ABOUT the middle of March, 1781, Lord CornwalHs 
l\ defeated Greene in a stubborn battle at Guilford, 
North Carolina. Although victorious, the British gen- 
eral was in desperate straits. He had lost a fourth of 
his whole army, and was over two hundred miles from 
his base of supplies. He could not afford to risk another 
battle. 

There was now really only one thing for Cornwallis 
to do, and that was to make a bee line for Wilmington, 
the nearest point on the coast, and look for help from 
the fleet. 

General Greene must have guessed that the British 
general would march northwards, to unite forces with 
Arnold, who was already in Virginia. At all events, the 
sagacious American general made a bold move. He 
followed Cornwallis for about fifty miles from Guilford, 
and then, facing about, marched with all speed to Camden, 
a hundred and sixty miles away. 

His lordship was not a little vexed. He was simply 

ignored by his wily foe, and left to do as he pleased. So 

he made his way into Virginia, and on May 20 arrived 

at Petersburg. 

123 



124 HKRO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Benedict Arnold, who was now fighting under the 
British flag, had been sent to Virginia to burn and to 
pillage. Washington dispatched Lafayette to check 
the traitor's dastardly work. When Lord Cornwallis 
reached Virginia, Arnold had been recalled, and the 
young Frenchman was at Richmond. 

Cornwallis thought he might now regain his reputa- 
tion by some grand stroke. The first thing to do was 
to crush the young Lafayette. 

" The boy cannot escape me," he said. 

But Lafayette was so skillful at retreating and avoid- 
ing a decisive action that his lordship could get no 
chance to deal him a blow. 

" I am not strong enough even to be beaten," wrote 
the French general to the commander in chief. 

Away to the w^est rode our friend Colonel Tarleton, 
still smarting from the sound thrashing he had received 
from old Dan Morgan at Cowpens. He was trying to 
break up the State Assembly, and capture Thomas 
Jefferson, governor of Virginia. 

It was a narrow escape for the man who wrote the 
Declaration of hidependence. The story is told that 
Jefferson had only five minutes in which to take flight 
into the woods, before Tarleton's hard riders surrounded 
his house at Monticello. 

About this time. Mad Anthony Wayne, with a thou- 
sand Pennsylvania regulars, appeared upon the scene and 
joined Lafayette. 



THE FINAL VICTORY I 25 

Now Cornwallls, finding that he could not catch 
" the boy," and having a wholesome respect for Wayne, 
stopped his marching and countermarching, and retreated 
to Williamsburg by way of Richmond and the York 
peninsula. 

During the first week in August, the British com- 
mander continued his retreat to the coast, and occupied 
Yorktown, with about seven thousand men. Lafayette 
was encamped on Malvern Hill, in the York peninsula, 
where he was waiting for the next act in the drama. 

Far away in the North, at West Point, Washington 
was keeping a sharp lookout over the whole field. The 
main part of the patriot army was encamped along the 
Hudson. 

At Newport, there was a French force under General 
Rochambeau. Late in May, Washington rode over to 
a little town in Connecticut, to consult with him. It 
was decided that the French army should march to the 
Hudson as speedily as possible, and unite with the patriot 
forces encamped there. 

The plan at this time was to capture New York. 
This could not be done without the aid of a large fleet. 

Early in the spring of this year, 1781, the French gov- 
ernment had sent a powerful fleet to the West Indies, 
under the command of Count de Grasse. De Grasse 
now had orders to act in concert with Washington and 
Rochambeau, against the common enemy. This was 
joyful news. 



126 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

News traveled very slowly in those times. It took 
ten days for Washington to hear from Lafayette that 
Cornwallis had retreated to Yorktown, and thirty days 
to learn that Greene was marching southward against 
Lord Rawdon in South Carolina. And as for De Grasse, 
it was uncertain just when and where he would arrive 
on the coast. 

Washington had some hard thinking to do. The storm 
center of the whole war might suddenly shift to Virginia. 

Now came the test for his military genius. Hitherto, 
the British fleet had been in control of our coast. Now, 
however, nobody but a Nelson would ever hope to defeat 
the French men-of-war that were nearing our shores. 
Cornwallis was safe enough on the York peninsula so 
long as the British fleet had control of the Virginia 
coast. But suppose De Grasse should take up a posi- 
tion on the three sides of Yorktown, would it not be an 
easy matter, with the aid of a large land force, to entrap 
Cornwallis ? 

The supreme moment for the patriot cause was now 
at hand. In the middle of August, word came from 
De Grasse that he was headed with his whole fleet for 
Chesapeake Bay. 

As might be expected, Washington was equal to the 
occasion. The capture of New York must wait. He 
made up his mind that he would swoop down with his 
army upon Yorktown, four hundred miles away, and 
crush Cornwallis. 



THE FINAL VICTORY 



127 



Yes, but what about Sir Henry Clinton, the British 
commander in chief in New York? If Sir Henry should 
happen to get an inkling of what Washington intended 
to do, what would prevent his sending an army by sea 
to the relief of Yorktown ? 

Nothing, of course, and so the all-important point was 
to hoodwink the British commander. It was cleverly 
done, as we shall see. 

Clinton knew that the French fleet was expected ; but 
everything pointed to an attack on New York. 

If we glance at the map of this section, we shall see 
that, from his headquarters at West Point, Washington 
could march half way to York- 
town, by way of New Jersey, with- 
out arousing suspicions of his 
real design. 

Nobody but Rochambeau had 
the least knowledge of what he 
intended to do. Bodies of troops 
were moved toward Long Island. 
Ovens were built as if to bake 
bread for a large army. The 
patriots seemed merely to be wait- 
ing for the French fleet before beginning in earnest 
the siege of New York. 

Washington wrote a letter to Lafayette which was pur^ 
posely sent in such a way as to be captured by Clinton. 
In this letter, the American general said he should be 




General Lafayette 



128 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

happy if Cornwallis fortified Yorktown or Old Point 
Comfort, because in that case he would remain under 
the protection of the British fleet. 

Washington wrote similar letters to throw Clinton off 
his guard. For instance, to one of his generals he wrote 
in detail just how he had planned to lay siege to New 
York. He selected a young minister, by the name of 
Montaigne, to carry the dispatch to Morristown, through 
what was called the Clove. 

" If I go through the Clove," said Montaigne, '' the 
cowboys will capture me." 

" Your duty, young man, is to obey," sternly replied 
Washington. 

The hope of the ever-alert commander in chief was 
fulfilled, for the young clergyman soon found himself a 
prisoner in the famous Sugar House, in New York. 
The next day, the dispatch was printed with great show 
in Rivington's Tory paper. 

On August 19, or just five days after receiving the 
dispatch from De Grasse, Washington crossed the Hud- 
son at King's Ferry, and set out on his long march, with 
two thousand Continental and four thousand French 
troops. 

They had nearly reached Philadelphia before their real 
destination was suspected. 

The good people of the Quaker city had just heard of 
Greene's successes in the South. The popular feeling 
showed itself in the rousing welcome they gave to the 



THE FINAL VICTORY I 29 

" ragged Continentals " and to the finely dressed French 
troops, as the combined forces marched hurriedly through 
the streets. The drums and fifes played " The White 
Cockade and the Peacock's Feather"; everywhere the 
stars and stripes were flung to the breeze; and ladies 
threw flowers from the windows. 

" Long live Washington ! " shouted the people, as the 
dusty soldiers marched by in a column nearly two miles 

long. ' 

" He has gone to catch Cornwallis in his mouse trap ! " 
shouted the crowd, in great glee. 

Even the self-possessed Washington was a trifle 
nervous. Galloping ahead to Chester on his favorite 
charger. Nelson, he sent back word that De Grasse had 
arrived in Chesapeake Bay. 

By rapid marches, the combined armies reached the 
head of the Bay on September 6. From this point, most 
of the men were carried in transports to the scene of 
action. In another week, an army of more than sixteen 
thousand men was closing round Cornwallis. 

Soon after his arrival, Washington, accompanied by 
Rochambeau, Knox, Hamilton, and others, made a 
formal call on Admiral De Grasse on board his flag- 
ship, the famous ship of the line, Ville de Paris, then 
at anchor in Hampton Roads. 

When Washington reached the quarter-deck, the little 
French admiral ran to embrace his guest, and kissed him. 
on each cheek, after the French fashion. 



130 HERO STORIES FROM AiMERICAN HISTORY 

" My dear little general ! " he exclaimed, hugging him. 

Now when the excited admiral stood on tiptoe to 
embrace the majestic Washington, and began to call 
him " petit," or '' little," the scene was ludicrous. The 
French officers politely turned aside; but it was too 
much for General Knox, who was a big, jolly man. He 
simply forgot his politeness, and laughed aloud until his 
sides shook. 

Where was the British fleet all this time ? 

Its commander. Admiral Hood, had followed sharply 
after De Grasse, and had outsailed him. Not finding 
the enemy's fleet in the Chesapeake, he sailed on to New 
York and reported to Admiral Graves. 

Then Sir Henry began to open his eyes to the real 
state of affairs. All was bustle and hurry. Crowding 
on all sail, the British fleet headed for the Chesapeake, 
and there found De Grasse blockading the bay. 

It would be all up with Washington's plans if the Brit- 
ish fleet should now defeat the French. The French 
fleet, however, was much the stronger, and Graves was 
no Nelson. There was a sharp fight for two hours. On 
the two fleets, the killed and the wounded amounted to 
seven hundred. The British admiral was then forced 
to withdraw ; and after a few days he sailed back to New 
York. De Grasse was now in complete control of the 
Chesapeake. 

Cornwallis did not as yet know that Washington was 
marching at full speed straight for Yorktown. Still, his 



THE FINAL VICTORY 



31 



lordship began to realize that he was fast getting himself 
into a tight place. 

Why not cross the James River and retreat to a safe 
place in North Carolina? 

It was too late. Three thousand French troops had 
already landed on the neck of the peninsula, and were 
united with the patriot 
forces. The " boy " had 
now more than eight 
thousand men, with 
which he could easily 
cut off every chance for 
his lordship's retreat. 

In the American 
camp, the combined 
armies were working 
with a hearty good will 
to hasten the siege. 
There could be no delay. 
The British fleet was 
sure to return, and 
another fleet was hourly expected from England. Again, 
Sir Henry might at any moment come by sea to the 
rescue. Day and night the men toiled. Nobody was 
permitted to speak aloud, for they were close to the 
British pickets. Intrenchments were made, and can- 
non were rapidly dragged up and placed in position. 
By October 10, all was ready. 




General Washington in the Trenches 
before Yorktown 



132 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The siege begins in earnest. Shot and shell are 
hurled into the British lines. All day and all night long, 
are heard the roaring of cannon and the bursting of 
shells. Bang! bang! The French fire red-hot shot 
across the water and set fire to the British transports. 

New lines of redoubts are thrown up during the night, 
and guns are mounted, which pound away at the doomed 
army. Two of the British redoubts are troublesome. 
These are gallantly captured. 

On the next night, Cornwallis makes a vigorous effort 
to break through the American lines, but is driven back 
into the town. With seventy cannon pounding away, 
the British earthworks are fast crumbling. The British 
commander grows desperate. He thinks that, by leaving 
his baggage and his sick behind, he can cross the river to 
Gloucester in boats, by night, cut through the French, 
and by forced marches make his way to New York. 

On the night of the i6th, a few of the redcoats actually 
succeeded in reaching the opposite shore, when a storm 
of wind and rain suddenly arose and continued till morn- 
ing. This last ray of hope was gone. 

Cornwallis had his headquarters in a large brick man- 
sion owned by a Tory. It was a fine target for the 
artillery, and was soon riddled. His lordship stayed in 
the house until a cannon ball killed his steward, as he 
was carrying a tureen of soup to his master's table. 

The British general now moved his headquarters into 
Governor Nelson's fine stone mansion. Its owner was 



THE FINAL VICTORY I33 

in command of the Virginia troops in the besieging 
army. He was the "war governor" who had left his 
crops to their fate, and his plows in the furrows, while 
his horses and his oxen were harnessed to the cannon 
that were being hurried to the siege. When Nelson 
learned, through a deserter, where Cornwallis and his 
staff were, regardless of his personal loss, he ordered the 
bombarding of the house. 

In Trumbull's famous painting, " The Surrender of 
Cornwallis," Governor Nelson's mansion is plainly seen. 

By this time, the only safe pl^ce in Yorktown was a 
cave, which had been dug under the bank of the river. 
To this spot, as the story goes, Cornwallis moved his 
headquarters. Here he received a British colonel who 
had made his way in the night through the French 
fleet, to bring orders from Sir Henry Clinton. Corn- 
wallis was to hold out to the last. Seven thousand 
troops had sailed to his relief. 

His lordship served a lunch for his guest, and while 
they were drinking their wine, the colonel declared his 
intention of going up on the ramparts for a moment, to 
take a look at the Yankees. As he left, he gayly said 
that on his return he would give Washington's health in 
a bumper. It was useless to urge him to remain under 
shelter. He had scarcely climbed to the top of the 
redoubt when his head was shot off by a cannon ball. 

On October 1 7, the thirteenth day of the siege and the 
fourth anniversary of Burgoyne's surrender, a redcoated 



134 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

drummer boy stands on the rampart and beats a parley. 
A white flag is raised on the British works. The roar 
of the cannon ceases. CornwalHs sends an officer to ask 
that fighting be stopped for twenty-four hours. 

Twenty-four hours ! No ! " No more fighting for 
two hours," says Washington. 

Held in an iron grasp both by land and by sea, the 
British commander knows that all is lost. He can do 
nothing but surrender. 

At two o'clock on the afternoon of October 19, in a 
field not far from Washington's headquarters, the formal 
surrender takes place. This ceremony, so joyful to the 
one side, so painful to the other, is carried out in stately 
form. The officers on both sides wear their best uniforms 
ai\d military equipments. Washington rides his favorite 
charger, Nelson. The stars and stripes of America, and 
the white fiag and lilies of France, wave in triumph. 
While the band plays a quaint old English melody, 
" The World Turned Upside Down," the British troops, 
over seven thousand in number, slowly march between 
the columns of the combined armies and lay down their 
arms. 

Cornwallis was not there. Saying that he was sick, 
he sent O'Hara, one of his generals, to deliver up his 
sword, while Washington, with his usual high regard 
for official dignity, sent General Lincoln. 

As perhaps you may remember, when General Lin- 
coln was forced to surrender to Cornwallis, at Charleston 



THE FINAL VICTORY 



135 



in 1780, the haughty British general turned him over 
to an inferior officer, as if to treat his surrender with 
contempt. 

Lafayette said, in after years, that the captive redcoats, 
while they gazed at the French soldiers with their showy 
trappings, " did not as much 
as look at my darling light 
infantry, the apple of my eye 
and the pride of my heart." 
Whereupon the lively young 
French general ordered his fife 
and drum corps to strike up 
"Yankee Doodle." "Then," 
he said, "they did look at us, 
but were not very well pleased." 

After the surrender, both the 
Americans and the British 
hastened away. Scores of brave 
men, whom thus far the bullets 
had spared, were the victims 
of camp fever and smallpox. Fourteen days afterwards, 
Yorktown became again a sleepy little hamlet of sixty 
houses. 

On the same day that Cornwallis found "the world 
turned upside down," Clinton sailed from New York, with 
thirty-five ships and over seven thousand of his best troops. 
Had this great force reached the scene ten days earlier, 
the story of Yorktown might have been different. 




The Night Watchman announcing 
the Capture of Cornwallis 



136 HERO STORIES EROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

"Cornwallis is taken ! " How quickly the news spread ! 
Men, women, and children pour in from the country, 
and wait along the road leading to Philadelphia, for the 
long-expected news. 

At length a horseman is seen riding at headlong speed. 

He waves his hat and shouts to the eager people, 
" Cornwallis is taken ! " 

It is Colonel Tilghman, w^hom Washington sent post- 
haste to Philadelphia to inform Congress of the surrender. 

It is after midnight when he arrives. The drowsy 
night watchman is slowly pacing the streets. Sud- 
denly is heard the joyful cry, " Past three o'clock, and 
Cornwallis is taken ! " 

Up go the windows. Men and women rush into the 
streets, all eager to hear the news. An hour before 
daylight, old Independence bell rings out its loudest 
peals, and sunrise is greeted with the boom of cannon. 

Congress meets during the forenoon, to read Washing- 
ton's dispatches. In the afternoon, the members go in 
solemn procession to the Lutheran church, " and return 
thanks to Almighty God for crowning the allied armies 
of the United States and France with success." • 

At noon on Sunday, November 25, the news reached 
London. Somebody asked a member of the cabinet 
how Lord North, the prime minister, received the 
" communication." 

" As he would have taken a cannon ball in his chest," 
was the reply; "for he opened his arms, exclaimed 



THE FINAL VICTORY 137 

wildly, as he walked up and down the room during a 
few minutes, 'O God! it is all over! it is all over!'" 

The news was sent to King George, who replied the 
same evening. It was noted that His Majesty being 
a trifle stupid, wrote very calmly, but forgot to mark the 
exact hour and minute of his writing. This circum- 
stance, the like of w^iich had never happened before, 
seemed to indicate to his cabinet some unusual disturb- 
ance. Shortly afterwards, however, the old king took 
some comfort in declaring that the Yankees were a 
wTetched set of knaves, whom he was glad to get rid of 
at any price. 

On a gentle slope at Yorktown stands a monument, 
erected a century later by Congress, in commemoration 
of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. There it stands, 
a tall, white shaft, solitary, glorious, and impressive, a 
landmark for many miles along that sleepy shore. 



E 



CHAPTER X 
THE CRISIS 

XACTLY eight years from the day when 

" the embattled farmers stood, 
And fired the shot heard round the world,' 



the Continental Congress informed General Washington 
that the war was over. In September, 1783, the formal 
treaty of peace was signed; a month later, the Conti- 
nental army was disbanded ; and three weeks later, the 
British army sailed from New York. 

What a pathetic and impressive scene took place at a 
little tavern, in lower New York, when Washington said 
good-by to his generals ! With hearts too full for words, 
and with eyes dimmed with tears, these veterans embraced 
their chief and bade him farewell. 

A few days before Christmas, Washington gave up 
the command of the army, and hurried away to spend 
the holidays at Mount Vernon. 

" The times that tried men's souls are over," wrote the 
author of " Common Sense," a man whose writings 
voiced the opinions of the people. 

Freedom was indeed won, but the country was in a 
sad plight. 

138 



THE CRISIS 



139 



"It is not too much to say," says John Fiske, " that 
the period of five years following the peace of 1 783 was 
the most critical moment in all the history of the Ameri- 
can people." 

Thirteen little republics, fringing the Atlantic, were 
hemmed in on the north, the south, and the west, by two 

hostile European ^ 

nations that were '^' 

capable of much mis- 
chief. 

In 1774, under the 
pressure of a com- 
mon peril and the 
need of quick action, 
the colonies had 
banded together for 
the common good. 
By a kind of general 
consent their rep- 
resentatives in 

, ^ . , Washington's Farewel 

the Continental 
Congress had assumed the task of carrying on the war. 
But for nine years Congress had steadily declined in 
power, and now that peace had come and the need of 
united action was removed, there was danger that this 
shadowy union would dissolve. Believing strongly in 
their own state governments, the people had almost no 
feeling in favor of federation. 




to his Generals 



I40 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Just before the disbanding of the army and his retire- 
ment to private hfe, Washington wrote a letter to the 
governor of each colony. This letter, he said, was his 
" legacy " to the American people. 

He urged the necessity of forming a more perfect 
union, under a single government. He declared that the 
war debt must be paid to the last penny; that the people 
must be willing to sacrifice some of their local interests 
for the common good ; and that they must regard one 
another as fellow citizens of a common country. 

We must not make the mistake of thinking that the 
Continental Congress was like our present national 
Congress. 

When the struggle between the colonies and the 
mother country threatened war, the colonies through 
their assemblies, or special conventions, chose delegates 
to represent them in Philadelphia. These delegates 
composed the first Continental Congress. It met on 
September 5, 1774, and broke up during the last week of 
the following October. 

Three weeks after Lexington, a second Congress met 
in the same city. This was the Congress that appointed 
Washington commander in chief, and issued the immortal 
Declaration of Independence. 

In the strict sense of the word, this body had no legal 
authority. It was really a meeting of delegates from the 
several colonies, to advise and consult with each other 
concerning the public welfare. 



THE CRISIS 141 

There was war in the land. Something must be 
done to meet the crisis. The Continental Congress, 
therefore, acted in the name of the " United Colonies." 

Many of the ablest and most patriotic men of the 
country were sent as delegates to this Congress; and 
until the crowning victory at Yorktown, although with- 
out clearly defined powers, it continued to act, by com- 
mon consent, as if it had the highest authority. It made 
an alliance with France ; it built a navy ; it granted per- 
mits to privateers ; it raised and organized an army ; it 
borrowed large sums of money, and issued paper bills. 

A few days after the Declaration of Independence was 
signed, a form of government, called the '' Articles of 
Confederation," was brought before Congress; but it 
was not adopted until several weeks after the surrender 
of Burgoyne, in 1777. 

The " Articles " were not finally ratified by the states 
until the spring of 1781. 

The constitution thus adopted was a league of friend- 
ship between the states. It was bad from beginning to 
end ; for it dealt with the thirteen states as thirteen units, 
and not with the people of the several states. It never 
secured a hold upon the people of the country, and for 
very good reasons. 

Each state, whether large or small, had only one vote. 
A single delegate from Delaware or from Rhode Island 
could balance the whole delegation from New York 
or from Virginia. 



142 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Congress had no power to enforce any law whatever. 
It could recommend all manner of things to the states, 
but it could do nothing more. It could not even protect 
itself. 

Hence, the states violated the "Articles " whenever 
they pleased. Thus Congress might call for troops, but 
the states could refuse to obey. Without the consent of 
every state, not a dollar could be raised by taxation. 

At one time, twelve states voted to allow Congress to 
raise money to pay the soldiers ; but little Rhode Island 
flatly refused, and the plan failed. The next year Rhode 
Island consented, but New York refused. 

Although Congress had authority to coin money, to 
issue bills of credit, and to make its notes legal tender 
for debts, each one of the thirteen states had the same 
authority. 

Money affairs got into a wretched condition. Paper 
money became almost worthless. The year after Sara- 
toga, a paper dollar was worth only sixteen cents, and 
early in 1 780 its value had fallen to two cents. 

A trader in Philadelphia papered his shop with dollar 
bills, to show what he thought of the flimsy stuff. In the 
year of Cornwallis's surrender, a bushel of corn sold for 
one hundred and fifty dollars ; and Samuel Adams, the 
Boston patriot, had to pay two thousand dollars for a hat 
and a suit of clothes. 

A private soldier had to serve four months before 
his pay would buy a bushel of wheat. When he could 



THE CRISIS 143 

not collect this beggarly sum, is it any wonder that he 
deserted or rebelled ? 

At one time, being unable to get money for the army. 
Congress asked the states to contribute supplies of corn, 
pork, and hay. 

To add to the general misery, the states began to 
quarrel with one another, like a lot of schoolboys. 
They almost came to bloodshed over boundary lines, 
and levied the most absurd taxes and duties. 

If a Connecticut farmer brought a load of firewood 
into New York, he had to pay a heavy duty. Sloops 
that sailed through Hell Gate, and Jersey market boats 
that crossed to Manhattan Island, were treated as if from 
foreign ports. Entrance fees had to be paid, and clear- 
ance papers must be got at the custom house. 

The country was indeed in a bad condition. There 
were riots, bankruptcy, endless wranglings, foreclosed 
mortgages, and imprisonment for debt. 

The gallant Colonel Barton, who captured General 
Prescott, was kept locked up because he could not pay a 
small sum of money. Robert Morris, once a wealthy 
merchant, was sent to jail for debt, although he had 
given his whole fortune to the patriot cause. 

Thoughtful and patriotic men and women throughout 
the country felt that something must be done. 

Washington and other far-sighted men of Virginia 
began to w^ork out the problem. First it was proposed 
that delegates from two or three states should meet at 



144 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Annapolis, to discuss the question of trade. Finally all 
the states were invited to send delegates. 

At this meeting, only twelve delegates, from five 
states, were present. Alexander Hamilton wrote an 
eloquent address, which it was voted to send to the 
state assemblies, strongly recommending that delegates 

should be appointed to meet 
at Philadelphia on the second 
day of May, 1787. 

This plan, however. Con- 
gress promptly rejected. 

During the winter of 1 786, 
the times were perhaps even 
harder, and the country 
nearer to the brink of civil 
war and ruin. There were 
riots in New Hampshire and 
in Vermont and Shays's Re- 
bellion in the old Bay State. 
There were also the threatened separation of the North- 
ern and Southern states, the worthless paper money, 
wildcat speculation, the failure to carry out certain pro- 
visions of the treaty of peace, and many troubles of less 
importance. 

As we may well suppose, all this discord made King 
George and his court happy. He declared that the 
several states would soon repent, and beg on bended 
knees to be taken back into the British empire. 




Alexander Hamilton 



THE CRISIS 



145 



When it was predicted in Parliament that we should 
become a great nation, a British statesman, who bore 
us no ill will, said, "It is one of the idlest and most 
visionary notions that was ever conceived even by a 
writer of romance." 

Frederick the Great was friendly to us, but he declared 
that nobody but a king could ever rule so large a country. 

All these unhappy 
events produced a great I 

change in public opinion. ^ 

People were convinced ^p 

that anarchy might be ^ . ia=M~Ei JESbz -^c :^ ^ 

worse than the union of :^'inr~iHii^Rr'lin~^^ 
these thirteen little com- ££:^'-\:..i- -■:F^.'--M'--^-^'-kv'^^ 
mon wealths, under a 'Hft^si^i^Sp^^'R:!^ 
strong, central govern- ---^-^^-^■^ " ^ --^^ ■=' -'- -^ -^""^^ i^T^ 

ment. The Old state House, in Phila- '0\ 

At this 2"reat crisis in delphia, now called Independence 

affairs, Virginia boldly 

took the lead, and promptly sent seven of her ablest 
citizens, one of whom was Washington, to the Philadel- 
phia convention. This was a masterly stroke of policy. 
People everywhere applauded, and the tide of popular 
sentiment soon favored the convention. At last Congress 
yielded to the voice of the people and approved the plan. 
Every state except Rhode Island sent delegates. 

It was a notable group of Americans that met in one 
of the upper rooms of old Independence Hall, the last 



146 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

week of May, 1787. There were fifty-five delegates in 
all, some of whom, however, did not arrive for several 
weeks after the convention began its meetings. 

Eight of the delegates had signed the Declaration of 
Independence, in the same room; twenty-eight had been 
members of the Continental Congress, and seven had 
been governors of states. Two afterwards became 
presidents of the United States, and many others 
in after years filled high places in the national gov- 
ernment. 

Head and shoulders above all others towered George 
Washington. The man most widely known, except 
Washington, was Benjamin Franklin, eighty-one years 
old; the youngest delegate was Mr. Dayton of New 
Jersey, who was only twenty-six. 

Here also were two of the ablest statesmen of their 
time, Alexander Hamilton of New York, and James 
Madison of Virginia. 

Connecticut sent two of her great men, Oliver Ells- 
worth, afterwards chief justice of the United States, and 
Roger Sherman, the learned shoemaker. 

Near Robert Morris, the great financier, sat his name- 
sake, Gouverneur Morris, who originated our decimal 
system of money, and James Wilson, one of the most 
learned lawyers of his day. 

The two brilliant Pinckneys and John Rutledge, the 
silver-tongued orator, were there to represent South 
Carolina. 



THE CRISIS 



47 



Then there were Elbridge Gerry and Rufus King of 
Massachusetts, John Langdon of New Hampshire, John 
Dickinson of Delaware, and the great orator, Edmund 
Randolph of Virginia. 

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would no doubt 
have been delegates, had they not been abroad in the 
service of their ^__=^.^^^ 

country. Patrick ^ 

Henry and Samuel ^.\ 

Adams remained at 
home ; for they did 
not approve of the 
convention. 

How Rhode Is- 
land must have 
missed her most 
eminent citizen, 
Nathanael Greene, 
who had just died 
of sunstroke, in the 
prime of manhood ! 

Washington was 
elected president of the convention. The doors were 
locked, and, every member being pledged to secrecy, they 
settled down to work. 

Just what was said and done during those four months 
was for more than fifty years kept a profound secret. 
After the death of James Madison, often called the 




James Madison 



148 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

." Father of the Constitution," his journal was pubHshed, 
giving a complete account of the proceedings. 

When the delegates began their work, they soon 
realized what a problem it was to frame a government 
for the whole country. As might have been expected, 
some of these men had a fit of moral cowardice. They 
began to cut and to trim, and tried to avoid any meas- 
ure of thorough reform. 

Washington was equal to the occasion. He was not 
a brilliant orator, and his speech was very brief ; but the 
solemn words of this majestic man, as his tall figure 
drawn up to its full height rose from the presidents 
chair, carried conviction to every delegate. 

" If, to please the people," he said, " we offer what 
we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend 
our work ? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and 
the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God." 

The details of what this convention did would be dull 
reading; but some day we shall want to study in our 
school work the noble Constitution which these men 
framed. 

The gist of the whole matter is that our Federal Con- 
stitution is based upon three great compromises. 

The first compromise was between the small and the 
large states. In the upper house, or Senate, equal repre- 
sentation was conceded to all the states, but in the lower 
house of Congress, representation was arranged accord- 
ing to the population. 



THE CRISIS 149 

Thus, as you know, little Rhode Island and Delaware 
have each two senators, while the great commonwealths 
of New York and Ohio have no more. In the House of 
Representatives, on the other hand, New York has thirty- 
seven representatives, and Ohio has twenty-one, while 
Rhode Island has two, and Delaware only one. 

The second compromise was between the free and 
the slave states. 

Were the slaves to be counted as persons or as 
goods ? 

South Carolina and Georgia maintained that they were 
persons; the Northern states said they were merely 
property. 

Now indeed there was a clashing over local interest; 
but it was decided that in counting the population, 
whether for taxation, or for representation in the lower 
house, a slave should be considered as three fifths of an 
individual. And so it stood until the outbreak of the 
Civil War. 

It was a bitter pill for far-sighted men like Washington, 
Madison, and others, who hated slavery. Without this 
compromise, however, they believed that nine slave states 
would never adopt the Constitution, and doubtless they 
were right. 

The slave question was the real bone of contention 
that resulted in the third compromise. The majority of 
the delegates, especially those from Virginia, were bit- 
terly opposed to slavery. 



150 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

" This infernal traffic that brings the judgment of 
Heaven on a country ! " said George Mason of Virginia.- 

At first, it was proposed to abolish foreign slave trade. 
South Carolina and Georgia sturdily protested. 

" Are we wanted in the Union ? " they said. 

They declared that it was not a question of morality 
or of religion, but purely a matter of business. 

Rhode Island had refused to send delegates; and those 
from New York had gone home in anger. The discus- 
sions were bitter, and the situation became dangerous. 

While the convention " was scarcely held together by 
the strength of a hair," the question came up for dis- 
cussion, whether Congress or the individual states should 
have control over commerce. 

The New England states, with their wealth of ship- 
ping, said that by all means Congress should have the 
control, and should make a uniform tariff in all the 
states. This, it was believed, would put an end to all 
the wranglings and the unjust acts which were so 
ruinous to commerce. 

The extreme Southern states that had no shipping 
said it would never do ; for New England, by controlling 
the carrying trade, would extort ruinous prices for ship- 
ping tobacco and rice. 

When the outlook seemed darkest, two of the Con- 
necticut delegates suggested a compromise. 

" Yes," said Franklin, " when a carpenter wishes to 
fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit from each." 



THE CRISIS 



151 



It was finally decided that there should be free trade 
between the states, and that Congress should control 
commerce. 

To complete the "bargain," nothing was to be done 
about the African slave trade for twenty years. Slavery 
had been slowly dying out both in the North and in the 
South, for nearly fifty years. The wisest men of 1787 




Signing the Constitution 

believed that it would speedily die a natural death and 
give way to a better system of labor. 

It was upon these three great foundation stones, or com- 
promises, that our Constitution was built. The rest of 
the work, while very important, was not difficult or dan- 
gerous. The question of choosing a president, and a 
hundred other less important matters were at last 
settled. 



152 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The scorching summer of 1787 was well-nigh spent 
before the great document was finished. The convention 
broke up on September 17. Few of its members were 
satisfied with their work. None supposed it complete. 

Tradition says that Washington, who was the first to 
sign, standing by the table, held up his pen and said 
solemnly, " Should the states reject this excellent Consti- 
tution, they probably will never sign another in peace. 
The next will be drawn in blood." 

Of the delegates who were present on the last day of 
the convention, all but three signed the Constitution. 

It is said that when the last man had signed, many of 
the delegates seemed awe-struck at what they had done. 
Washington himself sat with head bowed in deep thought. 

Thirty-three years before this, and before some of the 
delegates then present were born, Franklin had done his 
best to bring the colonies into a federal union. He was 
sixty years of age when, in this very room, he put his 
name to the Declaration of Independence. Now, as the 
genial old man saw the noble aim of his life accomplished, 
he indulged in one of his homely bits of pleasantry. 

There was a rude painting of a half sun, gorgeous with 
its yellow rays, on the back of the president's black arm- 
chair. When Washington solemnly rose, as the meet- 
ing was breaking up, Franklin pointed to the chair and 
said, " As I have been sitting here all these weeks, I have 
often wondered whether that sun behind our president is 
rising or setting. Now I do know that it is a rising sun." 



THE CRISIS 



153 



The Constitution was sent to the Continental Con- 
gress, who submitted it to the people of the several 
states for their approval. It was agreed that when it 
was adopted by nine states, it should become the supreme 
law of the land. 

Now for the first 
time there was a real 
national issue. The 
people arranged 
themselves into two 
great political parties, 
the Federalists, who 
believed in a strong 
government and the 
new Constitution, and 
the Anti-Federalists, 
who were opposed to 
a stronger union 
between the states. 

And now what 
keen discussions, 
bitter quarrels, and scurrilous and abusive newspaper 
articles! A bloodless war of squibs, broadsides, pam- 
phlets, and frenzied oratory was waged everywhere. 

Hamilton and Madison were " mere boys " and " vision- 
ary young men " ; Franklin was an " old dotard " and " in 
his second childhood"; and as for Washington, "What 
did he know about politics ? " 




Benjamin Franklin 



154 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Constitution was called " a triple-headed mon- 
ster." Many able men sincerely believed it to be "as 
deep and wicked a conspiracy as ever was invented in 
the darkest ages against the liberties of the people." 

How eloquently did such men as Hamilton, Madison, 
Randolph, Jay, " Light-Horse Harry" Lee, John Marshall, 
Fisher Ames, and a score of other " makers of our coun- 
try " defend the " New Roof," as the people were then 
fond of calling the Federal Constitution ! 

A series of short essays written by Hamilton, Madi- 
son, and Jay, and published under the name of " The 
Federalist," were widely read. Although written at a 
white heat, their grave and lofty eloquence and their 
stern patriotism carried conviction to the hearts of the 
people. 

" The Delaware State," as it was called, was the first to 
adopt the Constitution. It was not until the next June 
that Massachusetts and Virginia ratified it, as the sixth 
and tenth states. New York next fell into line in July. 

The victory was won ! The " New Roof " was up and 
finished, supported by eleven stout pillars ! 

On the glorious " Fourth " in i ySS, there was great 
rejoicing throughout the land. Bonfires, stump speeches, 
fireworks, processions, music, gorgeous banners, and bar- 
becues of oxen expressed the joy of the people over 
the establishment of a federal government. 

" Hurrah for the United States of America!" shouted 
every patriot. 



THE CRISIS 155 

" The good ship Constitution " was at last fairly 
launched. 

The wheels of the new government began to turn 
slowly and with much friction. It was not until the first 
week of April, 1789, that the House of Representatives 
and the Senate met and counted the electoral votes for 
a President of the newly born nation. There were sixty- 
nine votes in all, and of these every one was for George 
Washington. John Adams was the second choice of the 
electoral college. He received thirty-four votes, and was 
accordingly declared Vice President. 

Thus w^as formed and adopted our just and wise Con- 
stitution, which, except for a few amendments, has ever 
since been the supreme law of the land. This document 
has been called by Gladstone "the greatest work ever 
struck off at any time by the mind and purpose of man." 
To it we owe our prosperity and our high place among 
nations. 



CHAPTER XI 

A DARING EXPLOIT 

ABOUT a century ago, pirates on the northern coast 
iV of Africa were causing a great deal of trouble. 
They used to dash out in their vessels, and capture and 
plunder the merchant ships of all nations. The poor 
sailors were sold as slaves, and then kicked and cuffed 
about by cruel masters. 

You will hardly believe it, but our country used to do 
exactly what other nations did. We used to buy the 
good will of these Barbary pirates, by giving them, every 
year, cannon, powder, and great sums of money. In 
fact we could not at first help it; for we were then a 
young and feeble nation with many troubles, and our 
navy w^as so small that we could not do as we pleased. 

The payment of this blackmail soon became a serious 
affair. Tlie ruler, or pasha, of Tripoli was bold enough 
to declare war against this country, and cut down the 
fiaorstaff in front of our consul's house. Two other 

o 

Barbary states, Morocco and Tunis, began to be impu- 
dent because they did not get enough money. 

This was more than our people could stand. These 

scamps needed a lesson. 

156 



A DARING EXPLOIT 



157 



You will, of course, remember Thomas Jefferson, who 
wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was at this 
time President of the United States. As you may well 
think, he was not the man to put up with such insults. 

"It reminds me," said Jefferson, " of what my good 
friend, Ben Franklin, once said in his Poor Richard's 
Almanac : ' If you make 
yourself a sheep, the 
wolves will eat you.' 
We must put a stop 
to paying this blood 
money, and deal with 
these pirates with an 
iron hand." 

So it came to pass 
that Commodore Dale 
was sent to the Medi- 
terranean, with a small 
fleet of war ships. 

When our little fleet 
arrived off the Barbary 
coast, Morocco and 
Tunis stopped grumbling and soon came to terms. 
We were then free to deal with Tripoli. 

Our war ships had orders simply to look after our 
merchantmen, without doing any fighting. Still, to give 
the proud ruler of Tripoli a hint of what he might soon 
expect, one of our small vessels, the Enterprise, afterwards 




Thomas Jefferson 



158 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

commanded by Decatur, fought a short but furious battle 
with a TripoHtan man-of-war. 

The pirate captain hauled his flag down three times, 
but hoisted it again when the fire of the Enterprise ceased. 
This insult was too much for Dale. Bringing his vessel 
alongside the pirate craft, he sprang over her side, fol- 
lowed by fifty of his men. The pirate crew, with their 
long curved swords, fought hard ; yet in fifteen minutes 
they were beaten. 

Our sailors now cut away the masts of the enemy's 
vessel, and, stripping her of everything except one old 
sail and a single spar, let her drift back to Tripoli, as a 
hint of how the new nation across the Atlantic was likely 
to deal with pirates. 

" Tell your pasha," shouted the American captain, as 
the Barbary ship drifted away, " that this is the way my 
country will pay him tribute after this." 

In the year 1803, the command of our fleet was given 
to Commodore Preble, who had just forced the ruler of 
Morocco to pay for an attack upon one of our merchant 
ships. The famous frigate Constitution, better known 
to every wide-awake American boy and girl as " Old 
Ironsides," was his flagship. 

Among his oflficers, or " schoolboy captains," as he 
called them, were many bright young men, who afterwards 
gained fame in fighting their country's battles. One of 
these officers was Stephen Decatur, the hero of this story, 
who afterwards, as captain of the frigate United States, 



A DARING EXPLOIT 



159 



whipped the British frigate Macedonian after a fight 
of an hour and a half. 

One morning late in the fall of 1803, the frigate 
Philadelphia, one of the best ships of our Httle navy, 
while chasing a piratical craft, ran upon a sunken reef 
near the harbor of Tripoli. The good ship was helpless 
either to fight or to get 
away. 

The officers and crew 
worked with all their 
might. They threw some 
of the cannon overboard, 
they cut away the fore- 
mast, they did everything 
they could to float the 
vessel. It was no use; 
the ship stuck fast. 

Of course it did not take 
long for the Tripolitans 
to see that the American war ship was helpless. Their 
gunboats swarmed round the ill-fated vessel and opened 
fire. It was a trying hour for the gallant Captain Bain- 
bridge and his men. Down must come the colors, and 
down they came. The officers and the sailors were taken 
ashore and thrown into prison. 

After a time, the Tripolitans got the Philadelphia off 
the reef. Then, towing her into the harbor of Tripoli, 
they anchored her close under the guns of their forts. 




Fight between Dale and the Tripolitan 
Pirates 



l6o HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The vessel was refitted, cannon were put on board, 
together with a crew of several hundred sailors, and the 
crescent flag was raised. She was now ready to sail out 
to attack our shipping. 

Just think of the days of grief and shame for Captain 
Bainbridge and his men ! Think of them as they looked 
day after day out of the narrow windows of the pasha's 
castle, and saw this vessel, one of the handsomest in the 
world, flying the colors of the enemy ! These brave 
Americans had need of all their grit ; but they kept up 
their courage and bided their time. 

Commodore Preble now sailed to Sicily, and cast 
anchor in the harbor of Syracuse. 

Don't you suppose the recapture of the Philadelphia 
was talked of every day ? 

Of course it was. Everybody in the fleet, from the 
commodore to the powder monkey, was thinking about 
it. They must do something, and the sooner the better. 

Even Captain Bainbridge in his prison cell wrote 
several letters with lemon juice, which could be read on 
being held to the fire, and sent them to Preble. These 
letters contained plans for sinking the ill-fated ship. 

Every one of Preble's young captains was eager to 
try it. It might mean glory, and promotion, or perhaps 
failure, and death. 

Somehow or other all looked to the dashing Stephen 
Decatur ; for from the first he had taken a leading part 
in planning the desperate deed. 



A DARING EXPLOIT 



6l 



" For the honor of the flag, sir, the ship must be 
destroyed. She must never be allowed to sail under 
that pirate flag," said Commodore Preble to Decatur. 

" My father was the ship's first commander," replied 
the young officer, whose fine black eyes gleamed, " and 
if I can only rescue 
her, it will be glory 
enough for a life- 
time." 

" You have spoken 
first," said the com- 
modore, " and it is 
only right that you 
should have the first 
chance." 

No time was lost. 
All hands went to 
work. 

What was their 
plan ? 

With a vessel made 
to look like a Maltese 
trader, and with his men dressed like Maltese sailors, 
Decatur meant to steal into the harbor at night, set fire 
to the Philadelphia, and then make a race for life. 

A short time before this, Decatur had captured a 
small vessel, known as a ketch. As this kind of boat 
was common here, nobody would suspect her. 




American Sailors sold into Slavery by the 
Barbary Pirates 



1 62 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The little craft, now named tlie Intrepid, was soon 
loaded with all kinds of things that would catch fire easily. 

On board the Enterprise on the afternoon of February 
3, 1803, the order w^as, " All hands to muster! " 

" I want sixty-one men out of this ship's crew," said 
Decatur, " to leave to-morrow in the Intrepid, to help 
destroy the Philadelphia. Let each man who wants to 
go take two steps ahead." 

With a cheer, every officer, every sailor, and even the 
smallest powder boys stepped forward. No wonder the 
young captain's fine face beamed with joy. 

" A thousand thanks, my men," he said, and the tears 
came into his eyes; " I am sorry, but you can't all go. I 
will now choose the men I want to take with me." He 
picked out about sixty of the youngest and most active. 

" Thankee, sir," said each man when his name was 
called. 

Besides his own younger officers and his surgeon, 
Decatur took five young officers from the Constitution, 
and a Sicilian pilot named Catalano, who knew the 
harbor of Tripoli. 

That same evening, the little ketch, with its crew of 
some seventy-five men, sailed out of the harbor of Syra- 
cuse amid three lusty cheers. The war brig Siren went 
with her. 

In four days, the two vessels reached the harbor of 
Tripoli, but a bad storm drove them off shore. What a 
time they had for six days! The Intrepid was a poor 



A DARING EXPLOIT 



163 



affair at best, and there was no shelter from the fury and 
the cold of the storm. The sailors slept on the hard 
deck, nibbled what little ship bread was not water-soaked, 
— for they had lost all their bacon, — and caught rain water 
to drink. In cold, hunger, and wet, these men, like true 
American sailors, sang their songs, cracked their jokes, 
and kept up their courage. 

After a week, the fury of the storm 
abated, the bright sunshine brought 
comfort, and the two vessels set sail 
for Tripoli. 

As they drew near the coast, 
towards evening, the wind was so 
light that the Siren was almost 
becalmed. The Intrepid, however, 
met a light breeze, which sped her 
toward the rocky harbor. 

Decatur saw that his best hope now 
was to make a bold dash, without waiting for the brig. 

"Never mind, boys," he said, "the fewer the number, 
the greater the glory. Keep your heads level ; obey 
orders every time ; and do your duty." 

About sunset, the ketch with her alert crew came in 
sight of the white-walled city. They could see the chain 
of forts and the frowning castle. The tall black hull and 
the shining masts of the Philadelphia stood out boldly 
against the bright blue African sky. Two huge men- 
of-war and a score of gunboats were moored near her. 




Commodore Stephen 
Decatur 



1 64 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

The harbor was like a giant cavern, at the back of which 
lay the Philadelphia, manned by pirates armed to the 
teeth, who were waiting for an attack from the dreaded 
Americans. 

Into these jaws of death, Decatur boldly steered his 
little craft. The breeze w^as still fresh. It would never 
do to take in sail, for the ever-watchful pirates would 
think it strange. So spare sails and buckets w^ere towed 
astern to act as a drag, for fear they should reach their 
goal too early. 

The men now hid themselves by lying flat upon the 
deck, behind the bulwarks, the rails, and the masts. Only 
a few persons, dressed like Maltese sailors, could be seen. 
Decatur stood calmly at the wheel by the side of Cata- 
lano, the pilot. 

" We lay packed closer than sardines in a box, and 
were still as so many dead men," said one of the men 
long afterwards to his grandchildren. 

About nine o'clock the moon rose, and by its clear 
light the ketch was steered straight across the blue waters 
for the bows of the Philadelphia. 

" Vessel ahoy ! What vessel is that ? " shouted an officer 
of the frigate, as the Intrepid boldly came nearer. 

Decatur whispered to his pilot. 

" This is the ketch Stella, from Malta," shouted Cata- 
lano, in Italian. "'We have lost our anchors, and were 
nearly wrecked in the gale; we want to ride near you 
during the night." 



I 



A DARING EXPLOIT 165 

" All right ! but only until daylight," replied the officer, 
and ordered a line to be lowered. 

Without a moment's delay, a boat under the command 
of young Lawrence put off from the Intrepid. On 
meeting the pirate boat, he took the line and rowed back 
to the ketch. 

The Americans, in their red jackets and fezzes, hauled 
away with a right good will, and brought their little craft 
steadily in toward the huge black hull of the frigate, 
where they were soon being made fast under her port 
side. 

As the ketch now drifted into a patch of moonlight, 
the pirate officer spied the anchors with their cables 
coiled up. 

" Keep off ! You have lied to me," he shouted, and 
ordered his men to cut the hawser. 

As if by magic, the deck of the ketch swarmed with 
men, whose strong arms forced their vessel up against 
the side of the Philadelphia. 

" Americans ! Americans!" cried the dazed Tripolitans. 

" Board ! board ! " shouted Decatur, as he made a 
spring for the deck of the frigate, followed by his gallant 
men. 

Although taken by surprise, the Tripolitans fought 
hard. They were called the best hand to hand fighters 
in the world, but they were no match for American 
sailors. As Preble's orders were " to carry all with the 
sword," no firearms were used. The only weapons 



1 66 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

were cutlasses. The watchword was " Philadelphia," 
which they were to use in the darkness. 

The Americans formed a line from one side of the ship 
to the other, and, with Decatur as leader, swept every- 
thing before them on the main deck. On the gun deck, 
Lawrence and McDonough did the same thing. In 
fifteen minutes, every Tripolitan had been cut down or 
driven overboard. In spite of the close, sharp fighting, 
not one of our men received a scratch. 

But now comes the tug of war ! Every man knows 
exactly what to do, for he has been well drilled. Some 
hand up kegs of powder and balls of oakum soaked in 
tar. Others carry these along the deck and down below. 
Now they drag two eighteen-pounders amidships, double- 
shot them, and point them down the main hatch, so as 
to blow out the bottom of the ship. In a few minutes 
everything is ready. 

"Start the fires!" A puff of smoke, a little blaze, 
then flames everywhere ! 

Quick and sharp comes the order to leap aboard the 
ketch. Decatur, sure that the work thus far is well 
done, is the last man to leave. 

Now all are safe aboard the Intrepid. The order is 
given to cast off. The ketch still clings to the blazing 
frigate, from whose portholes the flames are shooting 
out. The gunpowder left on the deck is covered only 
with canvas. Life is in peril. They find that the stern 
rope has not been cast off. Up rush Decatur and his 



A DARING EXPLOIT 



167 



officers, and cut the hawser with their swords. The 
boat swings clear, and the men row for their hves. 

The fierce flames of the burning ship bring the 
Intrepid into plain view. She is a target for every gun. 
Bang! bang! 
thunder a hun- 
dred cannon. 

"Stop rowing, 
boys, and give 
'e m three 
cheers," shouts 
Decatur. 

Everybody is 
on his feet in 
an instant, and 
joins in the hur- 
rahs. 

Solid shot, 
grape, and 
shells whistle 
and scream in 
the air above 
the little ketch, 
and throw^ up 
showers of spray 

as they strike the water. Only one shot hits, and that 
whizzes through the mainsail. The men bend to their 
oars and pull for dear life. They are soon well out of 




The Burning of the Philadelphia 



1 68 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

range, and, in a short time, safe under the guns of 
the Siren. 

What wild hurrahs were heard when Decatur, clad in 
a sailor's pea-jacket, and begrimed with powder, sprang 
on board and shouted, "Didn't she make a glorious 
bonfire, and we did n't lose a man ! " 

In telling the story afterwards, the men said it was a 
superb sight. The flames burst out and ran rapidly up 
the masts and the rigging, and lighted up the sea and 
the sky with a lurid glare. The guns soon became 
heated and began to go off. They fired their hot shot 
into the shipping, and even into the town. Then, as 
if giving a last salute, the Philadelphia parted her cables, 
drifted ashore, and blew up. 

As a popular saying goes, " Nothing succeeds like 
success." So it was with Decatur's deed. His cool 
head and the fine discipline of his men won success. 
The famous Lord Nelson, the greatest naval commander 
of his time, said it was " the most bold and daring act of 
the age." 

Decatur was w^ell rewarded. At twenty-five he was 
made a captain, and given the command of " Old 
Ironsides," probably the finest frigate at that time in 
the world. 



CHAPTER XII 
<'OLD IRONSIDES" 

" Ay, tear her tattered ensign down ! 
Long has it waved on high, 
And many an eye has danced to see 
That banner in the sky." 

IN 1833, when the old war ship Constitution, unfit 
for service, lay in the navy yard in Charlestown, the 
Secretary of the Navy decided to sell her or to break her 
up. On the appearance of this bit of news in a Boston 
paper, Oliver Wendell Holmes, a law student at Harvard, 
scribbled some verses and sent them to the editor. 

This poem of twenty-four lines was at once published, 
and was soon copied into the leading newspapers of the 
country. In our large cities, the poem was circulated 
as a handbill. Popular indignation rose to a white heat, 
and swept everything before it. 

The order was at once revoked, and Congress decided 
that the old frigate, so dear to the hearts of the American 
people, should be rebuilt. 

Why did the people care so much about " Old Iron- 
sides" ? 

For twenty-five years after the adoption of the Con- 
stitution, we had a rough road to travel. We were 

169 



170 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

nearly crushed by our foreign debts, and could do little 
to defend ourselves on the high seas. England boarded 
our ships and carried off our sailors, and France cap- 
tured our vessels and stole their cargoes. Even the 
Barbary pirates, when they spied the new flag, began 
to plunder and burn our merchantmen, and sell their 
crews into slavery. 

In the fall of 1793, eight Algerine pirate craft sailed 
out into the Atlantic, and within a month had captured 
eleven of our ships and made slaves of more than a 
hundred of our sailors. 

Think of our consul at Lisbon writing home, " Another 
Algerine pirate in the Atlantic. God preserve us ! " 

In behalf of American citizens held as slaves by these 
pirates, a petition was sent to Congress. A bill was then 
passed, allowing President Washington to build or to 
buy six frigates. 

It was a fortunate day for our nation when the plans 
of Mr. Humphreys, a shipbuilder of Philadelphia, were 
accepted. He was directed by Congress to prepare the 
models of six war ships, to be built in different towns on 
the coast. 

The design of the Constitution was sent to Boston, 
and her keel was laid in Hartt's Naval Yard, near 
what is now Constitution Wharf. The ideas of Mr. 
Humphreys were carried out to the letter. The new 
frigate was to have better guns, greater speed, greater 
cruising capacity, — in fact, was to be a little better 



OLD IRONSIDES" 



171 



in every respect than the British and the French ships 
of the same rating. 

The Constitution was called a forty-four-gun frigate, 
although she actually carried thirty twenty-four-pounders 




" Old Ironsides 



on her main deck, and twenty-two thirty-two-pounders 
on her spar deck. She had one gun deck instead of 
two, and her cannon were heavier than were usually 
carried on foreign war ships of her own class. She was 
twentv feet lonorer and about five feet broader than 



172 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

the far-famed thirty-eight-gun British frigates. In com- 
parison with a modern war ship, she was less than one 
half as long as the armed cruiser New York, and not 
far from the size of one of our gunboats. 

The British naval officers made much sport of these 
new ships; but after "Old Ironsides" had destroyed 
two fine British frigates, and had outsailed a large British 
fleet, they went to work and made over some of their line 
of battle ships into large frigates. 

The Constitution was built of the best material, and 
with unusual care. A Boston shipwright was sent 
South to select live oak, red cedar, and hard pine. Paul 
Revere, who made the famous midnight ride to Con- 
cord, received nearly four thousand dollars for the 
copper which he furnished for the new frigate. 

From the laying of the keel to the final equipment, 
the Constitution was kept in the shipyard fully three 
years. Her live oak timbers, having had two years to 
season, were hard as iron. 

After many delays, the stanch ship was set afloat at 
midday, October 21, 1797, "before a numerous and 
brilliant collection of citizens." 

In 1803, a fleet was sent to the north of Africa, to 
force the pirates of the Barbary coast to respect the 
persons and the property of American citizens. Com- 
modore Preble was made commander, with the Constitu- 
tion as his flagship. He had under him the Philadelphia, 
a fine new frigate, and five smaller war ships. 



"OLD IRONSIDES" 1 73 

Preble was a remarkable man, and his " schoolboy cap- 
tains," as he called them, all under twenty-five years of 
age, were also remarkable men. 

For two years or more, there was plenty of stubborn 
fighting. Within forty days, five attacks were made on 
the forts and the war ships of Tripoli. In three of these 
attacks, the Constitution took part ; and once, while sup- 
porting the fleet, she silenced more than a hundred guns 
behind the forts of the pirate capital. 

Even from the first, the new frigate was lucky. She 
was never dismasted, or seriously injured, in battle or by 
weather. In all her service, not one commanding officer 
was ever lost, and few of her crew were ever killed. 

On one occasion, six of our gunboats made a savage 
hand to hand attack on twenty-one Tripolitan gunboats, 
and drove them back into the harbor with great loss. 

" There, Commodore Preble," said young Decatur, as 
he came over the side of the Constitution, and walked 
joyfully up to his commander on the quarter-deck, " I 
have brought you out three of the gunboats." 

Preble had a kind heart, but a very quick temper. 
Like a flash, he seized Decatur by the collar and shook 
him, shouting, " Aye, sir, why did you not bring me out 
more ? " and walked into his cabin. 

The stern old fighter was over his temper in a moment. 
He sent for his young officer, and made ample amends for 
bad temper and hasty words. Ever afterwards these two 
great men were the best of friends. 



174 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

During the war of 1812, "the war for free trade and 
sailors' rights," the Constitution won her chief honors. 
The story of her remarkable escape from a British 
squadron has been often told. 

It was at daybreak about the middle of July, 181 2, off 
the New Jersey coast. Not a breath ruffled the ocean. 
Captain Isaac Hull, every inch of him a sailor, was in 
command. A British fleet of five frigates and some 
smaller vessels, which had been sighted the day before, 
had crept up during the night, and at daylight almost 
surrounded "Old Ironsides." 

Hull knew his ship and his men. Not for one moment 
did he think of giving up his vessel. Of course he could 
not fight his pow^erful foe with his single ship. He 
must get away. But how.^ 

One of the British frigates, the Shannon, had furled 
her sails, and w^as being towed by all the boats of the 
fleet. 

" This," said Lieutenant Morris, " seemed to decide 
our fate." 

A moment later, how^ever, a puff of wind carried our 
frigate out of gunshot. 

" How deep is the water? " shouts Captain Hull. 

" Tw^enty fathoms," is the reply. 

" Out with the hedge anchor! " cries Hull. 

All the spare ropes and cables are fastened together 
and payed out to an anchor, w^hich is dropped into the 
sea a mile ahead. The sailors on the frigate go round 



"OLD IRONSIDES" 



75 



the windlass on the run, and the vessel is slowly drawn 
ahead to the anchor, which is now quickly taken up and 
carried out once more. This is called kedging. 

Our sailor boys give cheer on cheer as they whirl the 
windlass and pull at the oars. 

The captain of one of the enemy's frigates now sees 

the game, and tries kedging, but does not get near 

enough to throw a shot. 

Three of the pursuing 

frigates open fire at long 

range, without doing any 

damage. 

All day long this pursuit 

is kept up. Every gun is 

loaded, ready to fire. The 

men rest by the cannon, 

with their rammers and 

their sponges beside them. 

All the next day the chase 

goes on. At last, slowly 

but surely, the American frigate gains on her pursuers. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Shannon is four 

miles astern. 

Two hours later, a squall gave Hull a chance to play 

a trick on his pursuers. Sail was shortened the moment 

the squall struck. The British captain, seeing the 

apparent confusion on board the Yankee frigate, also 

shortened sail. The moment his vessel was hidden by 




Isaac Hul 



176 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

the rain, Hull quickly made sail again. When the 
weather cleared, his nearest pursuer was far astern. 

At daylight the next morning, the British fleet was 
almost out of sight, and, after a chase of three nights 
and two days, gave up the contest. 

Six days later, the good people of Boston went wild 
with delight, as their favorite frigate ran the blockade 
and came to anchor in the harbor. 

Captain Hull was not the man to be shut up in Bos- 
ton harbor if he could help it. In less than two weeks 
he ran the blockade and sailed out upon the broad ocean. 
A powerful British fleet was off the coast. Hull knew 
it, but out he sailed with his single ship to battle for his 
country. 

Now the British had a fine frigate named the Guer- 
riere. This vessel was one of the fleet that had given 
the Constitution such a hot chase a few days before. 
Captain Dacres, her commander, and Captain Hull were 
personal friends, and had wagered a hat on the result of 
a possible battle between their frigates. The British 
captain had just wTitten a challenge to the commander of 
our fleet, saying that he should like to meet any frigate 
of the United States, to have a few minutes tete-a-tete. 

On the afternoon of August 19, about seven hundred 
miles northeast of Boston, these two finest frigates in 
the world, the Guerriere and the Constitution, met for 
the " interview " that Dacres so much wanted. 

All is hurry and bustle on " Old Ironsides." 



"OLD IRONSIDES" 1 77 

" Clear for action ! " shrilly sounds the boatswain's 
whistle. 

The fife and drum call to quarters. Everybody hur- 
ries to his place. 

The British frigate, as if in defiance, flings out a flag 
from each topmast. Her big guns flash, but the balls 
fall short. 

" Don't fire until I give the word," orders Captain Hull. 

Now the Guerriere, drawing nearer and nearer, pours 
in a broadside. 

" Shall we not fire, sir ? " asks Lieutenant Morris. 

" Not yet," is Hull's reply. 

Another broadside tears through the rigging, wound- 
ing several men. The sailors are restless at their double- 
shotted guns. 

Now the two frigates are fairly abreast, and within 
pistol shot of each other. 

" Now, boys, do your duty. Fire !" shouts the gallant 
commander, at the top of his voice. 

Hull is a short and stout man. As he leans over 
to give the order to fire, his breeches burst from hip 
to knee. The men roar with laughter. There is no 
time to waste, however, and so he finishes the battle in 
his laughable plight. 

An officer, pointing to the captain, cries, " Hull her, 
boys! hull her!" 

The men, catching the play upon words, shout, " Hull 
her! Yes, we'll hull her!" 



178 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

" Old Ironsides" now lets fly a terrible broadside at close 
range. The Guerriere's niizzenmast goes overboard. 

" My lads, you have made a brig of that craft ! " cries 
Hull. 

"Wait a moment, sir, and we'll make her a sloop!" 
shout back the sailors. 

Sure enough, the Guerriere swings round and gets a 
raking fire, which cuts away the foremast and much of 
the rigging, and leaves her a helpless hulk in the trough 
of the sea. The flag goes down with the rigging, and 
there is nothing to do but to surrender. 

In just thirty minutes, the British frigate is a wreck. 

During the hottest part of the battle, a sailor, at least 
so runs the story, saw a cannon ball strike the side of the 
vessel and fall back into the sea. 

" Hurrah, boys ! hurrah for ' Old Ironsides ' ! " he 
shouted to his mates ; " her sides are made of iron." 

Some say that from this incident the nickname of 
"Old Ironsides" took its origin. 

Captain Hull received his old friend Dacres, kindly, 
on board the Constitution, and said, " I see you are 
wounded, Dacres. Let me help you." 

When the British captain offered his sword, Hull said, 
" No, Dacres, I cannot take the sword of a man who 
knows so well how to use it, but I will thank you for 
that hat!" 

Just as they were ready to blow up the Guerriere, 
Dacres remembered that a Bible, his wife's gift, which 



OLD IRONSIDES" 



79 



he had carried with him for years, had been left behind. 
Captain Hull at once sent a boat after it. 

Twenty-five years after this incident, Captain Dacres, 
then an admiral, gave Hull a dinner on his flagship, at 
Gibraltar, and told the ladies the story of his wife's Bible. 

When ''Old Iron- 
sides " came sailing 
up the harbor, on 
the last day of 
August, what a 
rousing reception 
the people of Bos- 
ton gave Captain 
Hull and his gal- 
lant men ! 

All the people of 
the town crowded 
the w^harves or 
filled the windows 
and the housetops 
overlooking the 
bay. The streets 

were gay with bunting, and there was a grand dinner, 
with many patriotic speeches and deafening cheers. 

In less than five months after her battle with the 
Guerriere, the Constitution had her hardest fight. It 
was with the Java, one of the best frigates in the British 
navy. Her commander. Captain Lambert, was said to be 




Hull refuses Dacres's Sword 



l8o HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

one of the ablest sailors that ever handled a war ship. 
The battle took place some thirty miles off the north- 
east coast of Brazil. 

The Constitution was commanded by Captain William 
Bainbridge. Before this, he had done some feats of seaman- 
ship, but thus far in his career he had not been fortunate. 
As you remember, Captain Bainbridge, through no fault 
of his own, lost the Philadelphia off the harbor of Tripoli. 

The battle began about two o'clock in the afternoon, 
with broadsides from both frigates. 

Bainbridge was soon w^ounded in the hip by a musket 
ball ; then the wheel w^as shattered, and a small copper 
bolt was driven into his thigh. Unwilling to leave the 
deck a moment, he had his wounds dressed while direct- 
ing the battle. 

Finding that he could not get near enough to the swift 
British frigate, Bainbridge boldly headed for the enemy. 
There was great risk of getting raked, but fortunately 
the Java's shots went wild. 

" Old Ironsides " was now within close range of the Java, 
and the fire of her heavy cannon soon left the British 
frigate dismasted and helpless. The British did not 
surrender, however, until every stick in the ship except 
a part of the mainmast had been cut away. 

Captain Lambert was mortally injured, his first lieu- 
tenant severely hurt, and nearly fifty men were killed 
and more than one hundred wounded. " Old Ironsides " 
came out of the battle with every spar in place. 



OLD IRONSIDES 



l8l 



The wheel of the Java was removed and fitted on the 
Constitution, to replace the one w hich had been shot away. 

A few years 
after the war, , ^^gMm^^^' 

some British 
naval officers 
paid a visit to 
"Old Iron- 
sides." 

" You have a 
most perfect 
vessel," said one 
of them, " but I 
must say that 
you have a very 
ugly wheel for 
so beautiful a 
frigate." 

"Yes," said 
the American 
captain to w^hom 
the remark was 
made, "it is 
ugly. We lost 
our w^heel in 
fighting the 
Java, and after the battle we replaced it with her wheel, 
and somehow we have never felt like changing it." 




Old Ironsides" bearing down on a British 
Man -of- War 



1 82 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Bainbridge was a great-hearted and heroic man. 
When he was told that Captain Lambert was mor- 
tally injured, he forgot his own wounds and had his men 
carry him to the blood-stained quarter-deck, where the 
British officer lay. He then put into the dying man's 
hand the sword he had just surrendered. 

On Captain Bainbridge's return to Boston, another 
long procession marched up State Street, and another 
grand dinner was given. When he traveled by coach to 
Washington, the people along the route turned out in 
great crowds to honor the naval hero. 

The Constitution fought her last battle off the Madeira 
Islands, on February 20, 181 5, under the command of 
Captain Charles Stewart, one of the hardest fighters in 
the history of our navy. 

" What shall I bring you for a present ? " said Captain 
Stewart to his bride. 

" A British frigate," promptly replied the patriotic 
young wife. 

" I will bring you two," answered Stewart. 

On the afternoon of February 20, two British men-of- 
war hove in sight. They proved to be the frigate Cyane 
and the sloop of war Levant. 

" Old Ironsides " made all sail to overhaul them. 

Stewart's superb seamanship in this sharp battle has 
excited the admiration of naval experts, even to our own 
day. It is generally admitted that no American ship 
was ever better handled. He raked one vessel and then 



"OLD IRONSIDES" 183 

the other, repeatedly. Neither of the enemy's war ships 
got in a single broadside. 

Just forty minutes after Stewart's first fire, the Cyane 
surrendered. A full moon then rose in all its splendor, 
and the battle went stoutly on with the Levant. At ten 
o'clock, however, she, too, perfectly helpless, struck her 
colors. 

" Old Ironsides' " last great battle was over. Single- 
handed, she had fought two British war ships at one 
time and defeated them, and that, too, with only three 
men killed and twelve wounded. In less than three 
hours our stanch frigate was again in fighting trim. 

With the exception of long periods of rest, " Old 
Ironsides" carried her country's flag with dignity and 
honor for forty years. 

Her cruising days ended just before the outburst of 
the Civil War, in 1861, when she was taken to Newport, 
* Rhode Island, to serve as a school-ship for the Naval 
Academy. Later, she was housed over, and used as a 
receiving ship at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the 
fall of 1897, she was towed to the navy yard at Charfes- 
town, to take part in her centennial celebration, October 
21, 1897. 

The old Constitution has been rebuilt in parts, and 
repaired many times ; so that little remains of the original 
vessel except her keel and her fioor frames. These huge 
pieces of her framework, hewn by hand from solid oak, 
are the same that thrilled with the shock of the old guns, 



1 84 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

before the granite forts of Tripoli. Over them floated 
the American flag and the pennants of Preble, Hull, 
Bainbridge, Decatur, Stewart, and many other gallant 
men, whose heroic deeds have shed luster on the 
American navy. 

It is interesting to know that Commodore Stewart 
was the last survivor of the great captains of the war of 
1812. He served his country faithfully for seventy-one 
years, and lived to be ninety-one. He died at his home, 
called " Old Ironsides," in New Jersey, in 1869. 

The loss of a few frigates did not matter much to 
England, but the loss of her naval prestige in the war of 
181 2 was of importance to the whole world. For the 
first time, Europe realized that there w^as a new nation, 
which was able and willing to fight for its freedom on 
the ocean, as it had fought for its independence on land. 

"Old Ironsides" still survives, a weather-beaten and 
battle-scarred hull, but a precious memorial of the nation's 
glory. She has earned a lasting place in the affections 
of the American people. 



CHAPTER XIII 
<'OLD HICKORY'S '» CHRISTMAS 

AT the beginning of the last century, England was 
L fighting for her very life against the mighty 
Napoleon. We remained neutral; but our ships were 
doing a fine business in carrying supplies to the two 
nations. 

England, however, looked at us with a jealous eye, 
and was determined to prevent our trade with France. 
On the other hand. Napoleon was eager to shut us out 
from England. 

Thus trouble arose. Both nations began to meddle with 
our commerce, and to capture and plunder our ships. 
What did they care for the rights of a feeble nation so 
long as each could cut off the other's supplies .^^ 

Great Britain, moreover, could not man her enormous 
navy. To get sailors, she overhauled our merchantmen 
on the high seas and carried men away to supply her war 
ships. In 1807, nearly two hundred of our merchantmen 
had been taken by the British, and fully as many more 
by the French. The time had come when we must 
either fight or give up our trade. 

It was hard to know what was best to do. Some were 

for fighting both England and France at the same time. 

185 



1 86 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Thomas Jefferson, who was President at this time, and 
James Madison, who followed him in 1809, were men of 
peace, and believed that the nation should keep out of 
war. 

In 181 1, however, the pent-up wrath of the people, 
roused by even greater insults, found relief in electing 
a " war " Congress. Then, through men like Henry 
Clay and John C. Calhoun, President Madison yielded to 
popular feeling, and in June, 181 2, war was declared with 
Great Britain. 

It was a bold thing to do. England had thousands of 
well-seasoned troops, commanded by officers who had 
been trained by Wellington. Our regular army had less 
than seven thousand men, and our main dependence 
was upon the militia, who proved of little service. To 
meet England on the water, we had only six frigates and 
a dozen or more little craft. England had more than two 
hundred war ships larger than any of ours. 

The war began, and was carried on, in a haphazard 
sort of way. Most of our land battles were inglorious 
enough ; but the story of our naval battles is another 
thing. England, the "mistress of the seas," met with 
some unpleasant surprises. Out of fifteen naval con- 
tests, with equal forces, we won twelve. Never before 
had the British navy met with such defeats. 

Early in the year 18 14, Napoleon was driven into 
exile at Elba, and Europe was for a time free from war. 
England was now able to send larger fleets and more 



''OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 187 

troops to our shores, and planned to capture New Orleans, 
the gateway to the commerce of the Mississippi. The 
hour of trial had indeed come for the fair Creole city. 

New Orleans was foreign in character, having been 
joined to our republic by purchase, with little in common 
with our people except a bitter hatred for England. 

In the last week of. November, a great fleet with ten 
thousand veterans sailed across the Gulf of Mexico, in 
the direction of New Orleans. The troops, most of 
whom had just served in Spain, under the " Iron Duke," 
were held to be the best fighting men in the world. 

The voyage seems to have been a kind of gala trip. 
The wives of many of the officers sailed with their 
husbands; and the time was spent in dancing, in 
musical and theatrical performances, and in other 
festivities. 

So sure were the proud Britons of taking the Creole 
city that they brought oi^cers to govern it. 

On December 9, in the midst of a storm, the ships 
anchored off the delta of the Mississippi. 

The British, having planned to approach New Orleans 
from the east, sent the lighter craft to cross Lake Borgne, 
some fifteen miles from the city. 

Five American gunboats, commanded by a young offi- 
cer named Jones, with less than two hundred men, were 
guarding the lake. The British landed twelve hundred 
marines. There was a sharp hand to hand fight for an 
hour, in which over three hundred of the British were 



1 88 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

killed or wounded. But it was twelve hundred against 
two hundred. Young Jones was severely wounded, and 
his gunboats were captured. 

It was now two days before Christmas. In a little 
dwelling house on Royal Street all was hurry and bustle. 
This was General Jackson's headquarters. Early in the 
afternoon, a young French officer, Major Villere, had 
galloped to the door, with the word that an outpost on 
his father's plantation, twelve miles below New Orleans, 
had been surprised that morning by the British. 

" The redcoats are marching in full force straight for 
the city," he said ; " and if they keep on, they will reach 
here this very night." 

" By the Eternal ! " exclaimed Jackson. His eyes 
flashed, his reddish gray hair began to bristle, and he 
brought his fist down upon the table. " They shall 
not sleep upon our soil this night." 

" Gentlemen," he continued to his officers and to the 
citizens round him, "the British are below; w^e must 
fight them to-night." 

The great bell on the old cathedral of St. Louis begins 
to ring, cannon are fired three times to signify danger, 
and messengers ride to and fro in hot haste, with orders 
for tlie troops to take up their line of march. 

The people of New Orleans had heard how the rough 
Britons dealt with the cities of Spain, and they knew 
well enouQ^h that the hated redcoats would treat their 
own loved city in like manner. 



OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 



189 



Jackson put every able-bodied man at work. It was 
a motley crowd. Creoles, Frenchmen, Spaniards, prison 
convicts, negroes, and even Lafitte, the far-famed " Pirate 
of the Gulf," and his 
crew of buccaneers, 
answered J a c k s o n's 
call. The people 
cheerfully submitted 
to martial law. The 
streets resounded 
with "Yankee Doo- 
dle" and with "The 
Marseillaise " sung in 
English, French, and 
Spanish. 

The backwoodsmen 
once more came to 
the front, as they had 
done at King's Moun- 
tain, thirty-five years 
before. The stern 
features of "Old 
Hickory" relaxed a 
bit at the sight of 
Colonel Carroll and 
his riflemen from Nashville. They arrived in flatboats 
on the same day that the British vanguard reached the 
river. Clad in coonskin caps and fringed leggins, and 




On the Eve of the Battle, Spies inform Jackson 
of the Enemy's Position 



I90 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

with their long rifles on their shoulders, these rough 
pioneers came tramping into the city. They were tall, 
gaunt fellows, with powder horns over their buckskin 
shirts, and with hunting knives in their belts. 

Colonel Coffee, too, had come with his regiment of 
mounted riflemen, and was encamped five miles below 
the city. 

Now Jackson knew that if he did not have time to 
throw up some earthworks, the city was likely to fall. 
In his usual fiery way, he made up his mind to attack the 
enemy that very night. 

Meanwhile the British had built their camp fires along 
the levee, and were eating their supper. Not once did 
they think themselves in danger. 

Soon after dark, a strange vessel, dropping quietly 
down the river, anchored within musket shot. Some of 
the redcoats thought it best to stir up the stranger, and 
so fired several times at her. 

Suddenly a hoarse voice was heard, " Now give it to 
them, boys, for the honor of America ! " 

It was the Carolina, an American war schooner. 

At once shot and shell rained on the British camp, 
killing or wounding at least a hundred men in ten min- 
utes. The redcoats trampled out their camp fires, and 
fled behind the levee for shelter. 

This was a rather warm reception, but it became a 
great deal warmer when Jackson charged into their 
camp. For two hours in the dark was fought a series 



OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 



191 



of deadly hand to hand fights. The British used their 
bayonets, the riflemen their hunting knives. 

At last, a thick fog from the river made it impossible 
to tell friend from foe. The redcoats retreated and found 
shelter behind the levee. The Americans fell back about 
three miles and camped. 

This bold night attack cost 
the British five hundred in 
killed and wounded, and saved 
New Orleans from capture. 
Jackson had gained his point. 
He had dealt the enemy a 
sudden, stinging blow. 

Christmas opened drearily 
enough for the invaders, but 
before night, to their great joy. 
Sir Edward Pakenham arrived 
from England, and took com- 
mand. The British had now 
about ten thousand men, led 
by three veterans. Surely, it would be nothing but boy's 
play for the great Sir Edward to defeat the " backwoods 
general " and his motley army. On his return home, his 
reward was to be a peerage. 

Pakenham went to work bright and early the next 
morning. Within two days, eleven cannon and a mor- 
tar were brought from the fleet, and mounted in a redoubt 
on the bank of the river. The battery at once began 




General Jackson, nicknamed 
"Old Hickory" 



192 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

to tlirow red-hot shells at the two war vessels in the 
river. The little Carolina soon blew up, while the 
Louisiana was towed out of range and escaped. 

The next morning, Sir Edward thought that by march- 
ing out his army he might get a look at the enemy. He 
was not disappointed, for after advancing nearly three 
miles, he stumbled on the Americans in good earnest. 

No sooner were the British columns in sight than 
they were driven back by a brisk fire of shot and shell. 
Then follow^ed a furious artillery duel. In vain the British 
pounded away with field pieces, rocket guns, and mortars ; 
they were forced back by the cannon of the Americans. 

The British commander now saw that he must lay 
regular siege to the American position. 

Shortly after midnight, on New Year's morning, his 
men silently advanced to within three hundred yards of 
Jackson's first intrenchments, which were made of cotton 
bales, and threw up a redoubt of mud and hogsheads 
of sugar. When the fog lifted at ten o'clock, the Ameri- 
cans were surprised to see the British cannon frowning 
upon them. 

The artillery began to roar. Jackson's cotton bales 
were soon burning. On the other hand, the Louisiana 
and a water battery did fine work with their raking fire, 
and soon blew the sugar barrels into thousands of pieces. 
The British guns were quickly silenced, and only the 
gallantry of the sailors from the war ships saved them 
from capture. 



''OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 193 

Sir Edward had boasted that he should pass this New 
Year's night in New Orleans ; but his reception had 
been so warm that he was now forced to withdraw. 
Jackson had made it so lively for the invaders that they 
had been without sleep and food for nearly sixty hours. 

The British admiral tried a grim joke by sending 
v/ord to Sir Edward that, if he did not hurry and cap- 
ture the city, he should land his marines and do up the 
job himself. 

The British now decided to carry by storm the Ameri- 
can lines on both sides of the river, and chose Sunday 
morning, January 8, for the attack. 

Jackson gave himself and his men no rest, night or 
day. He had redoubts thrown up even to the city itself. 

The main line of defense, over which not a single 
British soldier passed, except as prisoner, was a mud bank 
about a mile and a half long. In front of it was a ditch, 
or half choked canal, which ran from the river to an 
impassable cypress swamp on the left wing. 

All Saturday night, January 7, was heard in the 
British camp the sound of pickax and shovel, the rumble 
of artillery, and the muffled tread of the regiments, as they 
marched to their several positions in the line of battle. 

After a day of great fatigue, Jackson lay down upon a 
sofa to rest. At midnight, he looked at his watch and 
spoke to his aids. 

" Gentlemen," he said, " we have slept long enough. 
The enemy will be upon us in a few moments," 



194 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Long before daylight, "Old Hickory" saw to it that 
every man was at his post. Leaning on their rifles, or 
grouped about the great guns, the men in silence saluted 
their beloved general, as he node from post to post, in the 
thick fog of that long, wakeful night. 

The lifting of the fog in the early light revealed 
the long scarlet lines of British veterans, in battle array. 
Surely it was only something to whet their appetites 
for breakfast, for such well-trained fighters to carry that 
low, mud earthwork. 

The bugle sounded, and the red-coated grenadiers and 
the kilted Highlanders moved steadily forward in col- 
umns. Not a rifle cracked, but the cannon from the mud 
earthwork thundered furiously. Grape and solid shot 
tore long lanes through the advancing battalions. 

General Gibbs led the attack on the left, which a 
deserter had told Pakenham was the weakest part of 
the earthwork. So it was; but on the day before the 
battle, Jackson had stationed there his Tennessee rifle- 
men. 

Nearer come the British regulars on the dc able-quick. 
The four lines of sturdy riflemen wait until three fourths 
of the distance is covered. 

Suddenly the clear voice of General Carroll rings out, 
" Fire ! " 

A sheet of flame bursts from the earthwork. The 
advancing columns falter, stop, break, and run. Not a 
man reaches the redoubt. 



"OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 195 

It was said that an old thirty-two-pounder had been 
loaded to the muzzle with musket balls, the first volley 
of which killed or wounded two hundred of the enemy. 

" Here comes the Ninety- Third ! Rally on the Ninety- 
Third ! " shouts Pakenham, as this splendid regiment of 
eight hundred kilted Highlanders advances amid the 
confusion. 

The brave men now rally for another desperate charge. 

"Hurrah, boys! the day is ours!" shouts Colonel 
Rennie, as he leads the attack on the right flank. 

But the day is not theirs. A few officers and men 
actually get across the ditch, but every one of them is 
shot dead the moment his head shows over the earth- 
work. The wavering columns stagger and give way. 

Sir Edward leaves General Lambert in command of 
the reserve, and, with generals Gibbs and Keane, now 
leads the assault. The mud earthwork again belches 
its sheets of flame, as the backwoods riflemen fire their 
death-dealing volleys. Again the proud columns give 
way. 

" Forward, men, forward ! " cries Pakenham, ordering 
the bugler to sound the charge. 

A rifle ball carries away the bugle before a note is 
sounded. 

" Order up the reserve ! " shouts the British commander, 
and leads his men to another deadly charge. 

A rifle bullet shatters his right leg, another kills his 
horse, and finally a third, fired by a negro, instantly 



196 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

kills him. Gibbs and Keane are both severely wounded. 
The officers in the brilliant uniforms are easy targets for 
the sharpshooters. 

It is what Bunker Hill might have been if the 
patriots had had stronger breastworks and plenty of 
ammunition. 

The eight hundred Highlanders, with pale faces but 
firm step, advance to the ditch, and, too proud to run, 
stand the fire until few more than a hundred are left. 
These slowly retire with their faces still toward the 
Americans. 

The battle lasted only twenty-five minutes. During 
this time the American flag was kept flying near the 
middle of the line. A military band roused the troops. 
Just after the fight, Jackson and his staff in full uniform 
rode slowly along the lines. The wild uproar of that 
motley army was echoed by thousands of spectators, who 
with fear and trembling had watched the issue of the 
contest. 

In the final and decisive action on that Sunday morn- 
ing, the British had about six thousand men, while Jack- 
son had less than three thousand. Of the British, seven 
hundred were killed, fourteen hundred wounded, and five 
hundred taken prisoners. The Americans had only eight 
killed and fourteen wounded ! 

It was the most astonishing battle ever fought on this 
continent. There had never been a defeat so crushing, 
with a loss so small. 



OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 



197 



For a week or more, the British kept sullenly within 
their lines. Jackson clung to his intrenchments. He 
was a fearless fighter, but was unwilling to risk a battle 
with well-tried veterans in an open field. He kept 
up, however, a continual pounding with his big guns, 
and his mounted riflemen gave the redcoats no rest. 




General Jackson riding along the Lines, after the Battle 

In about three weeks. General Lambert skillfully 
retreated to the ships, and, soon afterwards, the entire 
army sailed for England. 

Such was the glorious but dreadful battle of New 
Orleans, the anniversary of which is still celebrated. 



198 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Honors fell thick and fast upon " Old Hickory." Four- 
teen years later, he became the seventh President of the 
United States. 

The sad part of this astounding victory is that peace 
had been declared about two weeks before the battle 
was fought. A " cablegram," or even an ocean grey- 
hound, could have saved the lives of many brave men. 

When peace was made, nothing was said about impress- 
ing our sailors, or about the rights of our merchantmen. 
From that day to this, however, no American citizen has 
been forced to serve on a British war ship, and no Amer- 
ican vessel has ever been searched on the high seas. 

The war of 18 12 was not fought in vain. The nations 
of the world saw that we would fight to maintain our 
rights. Best of all, perhaps, this war served to strengthen 
the feeling of nationality among our own people. 



CHAPTER XIV 
A HERO'S WELCOME 

RARELY has the benefactor of a people been awarded 
such measure of gratitude as we gave Lafayette, in 
1824. Eager crowds flocked into the cities and the villages 
to welcome this hero. Thousands of children, the boys 
in blue jackets and the girls in white dresses, scattered 
flowers before him. If you could get your grandfather 
or your grandmother to tell you of this visit, it would 
be as interesting as a storybook. 

The conditions in the United States were just right 
for such an outburst of feeling. Everybody knew the 
story of the rich French nobleman, who, at the age of 
nineteen, had left friends, wife, home, and native land, to 
cast his lot with strange people, three thousand miles 
away, engaged in fighting for freedom. 

It was not until after the battle of Bunker Hill that, 
at a grand dinner party, the young marquis heard of our 
struggle for independence. He knew neither our country 
nor our people, and he did not speak our language ; but 
his sympathies were at once awakened, and he made up 
his mind to fight for us. 

In the spring of 1777, at his own expense, he bought 

and fitted out a vessel with military supplies, and sailed 

199 



200 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

for America. Seven weeks later, he landed in South 
Carolina, and at once went to Philadelphia to offer his 
services to Congress. 

He wrote a note to a member of Congress, in which 
he said, " After the sacrifices I have made, I have the 
right to exact two favors; one is, to serve at my own 
expense, the other, to serve as a volunteer." 

These manly words and the striking appearance of the 
young Frenchman, together with letters from Benjamin 
Franklin, had their effect. His services were accepted, 
and he was made a major general. 

For seven years Lafayette served Washington as an 
aid and a personal friend. His deep sympathy, his gen- 
erous conduct, and his gracious ways won all hearts, from 
the stately Washington to the humblest soldier. Per- 
sonal bravery on the battlefield at once gained fame for 
him as a soldier, and made him one of the heroes of the 
hour. His example worked wonders in getting the best 
young men of the country to enlist in the army. 

During the fearful winter at Valley Forge, the young 
nobleman suddenly changed his manner of living. Used 
to ease and personal comforts, he became even more 
frugal and self-denying than the half-starved and half- 
frozen soldiers. How different it must have been from 
the gayeties and the luxuries of the French court of the 
winter before ! 

The battle of Monmouth was fought on a hot Sunday 
in June, 1778. From four o'clock in the morning until 



A HERO'S WELCOME 



20I 



m 



Q 



dusk, Lafayette fought like a hero. Late at night, when 
the battle was over, he and Washington lay upon the 
same cloak, under a tree, and talked over the strange 
' events of the day until they fell asleep. 

After the battle of Monmouth, Lafayette went back to 
France to visit his family, and to plead the cause of his 
adopted country. He 
was kindly received 
at court. 

^'Tell us all the 
good news about our 
dearly-beloved 
Americans," begged x5.,. 
the queen. \'>^' 

To the king. La- -'^ MM''!'- 1^% *lr ^7 
fayette spoke plainly: 
" The money that 
you spend. Sire, on 
one of your court 
balls would go far 
towards sending an 
army to the colonies 
in America, and 
dealing England a blow where she would most feel it." 

In the spring of 1780, Lafayette returned to America 
with the French king's pledge of help. 

At the close of the Revolution, the gallant young 
mafquis went back to France, the hero of his nation, but 




ABi 



Lafayette's Visit to Washington at Mount 
Vernon, in 1784 



202 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

his interest in America never grew less. When the 
treaty of peace was signed at Paris, he hired a vessel 
and hurried it across the ocean, with the good news. 

In 1784, the year after peace was declared, Lafayette 
visited this country for the third time. He made Wash- 
ington a long visit at Mount Vernon, went over the old 
battlefields, and met his old comrades. 

In 1824, it was known that Lafayette, now an old 
man, longed to visit once more the American people 
and the scenes he loved so well. Congress at once 
requested President Monroe to invite him as the nation's 
guest. 

Forty years had wrought a marvelous change in 
America. The thirteen colonies, in whose cause the 
young Frenchman came over the sea, had been united 
into a nation of twenty-four states. The experiment of 
laying the foundation of a great republic had proved 
successful. The problem of self-government had been 
solved. 

The United States had taken its place among the 
great nations of the world, — a republic of twelve millions 
of prosperous and happy people. Towns and cities had 
sprung up like magic. The tide of immigration had 
taken possession of mountain and valley of what was 
then the far West. 

The people of the young nation were still rejoicing 
over the glorious victories of Hull, Decatur, Bainbridge, 
Perry, and other heroes of the sea. Less than ten years 



A HERO'S WELCOME 



203 



before, General Jackson had won his great victory at 
New Orleans. 

Time had dealt heavily with the great generals of the 
Revolution. Washington had been laid away in the 
tomb at Mount Vernon, twenty-five years before. Greene, 
Wayne, Marion, Morgan, Schuyler, Knox, and Lincoln 
were all dead. Stark had died only two years before. 
Sumter was still living. Lafayette was the last surviv- 
ing major general of the Revolution. 

The people of this country were familiar with Lafay- 
ette's remarkable history since he had left America. 
They had heard of his lifelong struggle against tyranny 
in his native land. They knew him as the gallaat 
knight who had dealt hard blows in the cause of freedom. 
They cared little about the turmoils of French politics, 
but knew that this champion of liberty had been for 
five years in an Austrian dungeon. 

Do you wonder that the grateful people of the sturdy 
young republic were eager to receive him as their guest ? 

In company with his son, George Washington Lafay- 
ette, and his private secretary, Lafayette landed at Staten 
Island, New York, on Sunday, August 15, 1824. He 
spent the night at the house of Vice President Tompkins. 
The next day, six thousand citizens came, in a grand 
procession of gayly decked vessels, to escort the national 
guest to the city. The cannon from the forts and from 
the men-of-war boomed a welcome, while two hundred 
thousand people cheered themselves hoarse. 



204 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Within a few days Lafayette went to Washington, and 
was formally received as the nation's guest by President 
Monroe, at the White House. 

As our guest now enters upon an unbroken series of 
receptions and triumphal ovations in the twenty-four 

states of the Union, let 
- _ us take a glimpse at his 

personal appearance. 

Lafayette was tall, 
rather stout, and had a 
large head. His face 
was oval and regular, 
with a high forehead. 
His complexion was 
light, and his cheeks 
were red. He had a 
long nose, and well- 
arched eyebrows over- 
hanging grayish blue 
eyes. He had lost his 
hair in the Austrian 
prison, and in its place 
wore a curly, reddish brown wig, set low upon his fore- 
head, thus concealing the heavy wrinkles upon his 
brow. 

" Time has much changed us, for then we were young 
and active," said Lafayette to his old friend, the famous 
Indian chief Red Jacket, whom he met at Buffalo. 




President Monroe, who received the 
Nation's Guest 



A HERO'S WELCOME 205 

" Alas ! " said the aged warrior, who did not suspect the 
finely made French wig, " time has left my white brother 
red cheeks and a head covered with hair ; but for me, — 
look ! " and, untying the handkerchief that covered his 
head, the old chieftain showed with a grim smile that he 
was entirely bald. 

The veteran soldiers of the Revolution said they could 
not see any resemblance to their youthful hero of nearly 
half a century before. He was always a plain-looking, 
if not a homely man, but his smile was magnetic, his 
face singularly attractive, and his manner full of sweet 
and gracious courtesy. To the people of the Revolution 
he was always known as " the young marquis." 

Lafayette remained in New York four days; but, 
having promised to attend the graduating exercises at 
Harvard College, he w^as forced to hasten to Boston. 
The trip was made by a relay of carriages, with a large 
civic and military escort. 

Although the party traveled from five o'clock in the 
morning until midnight, it took five days to reach the 
city. Every village along the route had its triumphal 
arch, trimmed with flowers and patriotic mottoes. Peo- 
ple came for many miles round, to w^elcome the great 
man and his party. At night the long file of carriages 
was escorted by men on horseback, carrying torches. 
Cannon were fired and church bells rung, all along the 
route ; while, after dark, huge bonfires were lighted on 
the hilltops and on every village green. 



206 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

When Lafayette appeared, there was wild excitement 
in the staid city of Boston. He rode in an open 
barouche drawn by six white horses; and was escorted 
by companies of mihtia, and by twelve hundred mounted 
tradesmen, clad in white frocks. 

It seems that Dr. Bowditch, the famous mathematician, 
a man too dignified to smile on ordinary occasions, was 
caught in the crowd that was waiting for Lafayette. He 
walked up a flight of steps, that he might with proper 
dignity let the crowd pass. At the sight of the famous 
Frenchman, he seemed to lose his senses ; for in an 
instant he was in the front ranks of the crowd, trying to 
shake hands with the honored guest, and shouting with 
all his might. 

On this trip Lafayette went east as far as Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire. His tour was then directed by way of 
Worcester, Hartford, and the familiar scenes of the Hud- 
son, to the South and the Southwest, where he visited 
all the large cities. From New Orleans, he ascended 
the Mississippi and the Ohio. He then crossed Lake 
Erie, and, passing fhrough the state of New York and 
the old Bay State, visited Portland, Maine. Returning 
by Lake Champlain and the Hudson, he reached New 
York in time for the magnificent celebration of the 
Fourth of July, 1825. The tour was brought to an end 
in September, by a visit to the national capital. 

Lafayette's journey through the country lasted for 
more than a year, and was one unbroken ovation. 



A HERO'S WELCOME 207 

Towns and cities all over the land vied with each other 
in paying him honor. It was one long series of public 
dinners, patriotic speeches, bonfires, flower-decked arches, 
processions of school children, and brilliant balls. 

The old veterans who had fought under Washington 
eagerly put on their faded uniforms, and found themselves 
the heroes of the hour, as they fought their battles over 
again to crowds of eager listeners. In fact, Lafayette's 
interviews with the old soldiers and the few surviving 
officers appear to have been the most interesting and the 
most pathetic features of the whole journey. 

A few weeks after his arrival in this country, Lafayette 
went to Yorktown, to celebrate the anniversary of that 
notable victory. He was entertained in the house which 
had been the headquarters of Cornwallis, forty-three 
years before. A single bed was found for the marquis ; 
but the little village was so crowded that the governor of 
Viro-inia and the great officers of the state were forced 
to camp on straw spread on the floor. 

A big box of candles, which once belonged to Corn- 
wallis's supplies, was found in good order in the cellar. 
They were lighted and arranged in the middle of the 
camp, where the ladies and the soldiers danced. 

The next day, Lafayette received his callers in the 
large Washington tent, which had been brought from 
Mount Vernon for this purpose. Branches cut from a 
fine laurel in front of the Nelson house were woven into 
a crown, and placed on the head of the honored guest. 



2o8 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Lafayette at once took it off, and, putting it on the 
head of his old comrade. Colonel Nicholas Fish, who 
helped him carry the redoubt at Yorktown, said, " Take 
it ; this wreath belongs to you also ; keep it as a deposit 
for which we must account to our comrades." 

" Nick," said Lafayette at another time to this aged 
man, as the two old friends sailed up the Hudson, " do you 
remember when we used to slide down that hill with the 
Newburgh girls, on an ox sled ? " 

On the trip through the Southwest, one of the grand- 
est ovations took place at Nashville, Tennessee. Gen- 
eral Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, with forty 
veterans of the Revolution, and thousands of people 
from far and near, gave their guest a rousing welcome. 

One old German veteran, who came over with Lafay- 
ette in 1777, and who served with him during the whole 
war, traveled a hundred and fifty miles over the moun- 
tains to reach Nashville. 

As he threw himself into his general's arms, he 
exclaimed, " I have seen you once again ; I have nothing 
more to wish for ; I have lived long enough." 

In the grand procession at New Orleans, one hundred 
Choctaw Indians marched in single file. They had been 
in camp near the city for a month, that they might be on 
hand to see " the great warrior," " the brother of their 
great father Washington." 

It would fill a good-sized book to tell you all the inci- 
dents and the courtesies that marked this triumphal tour. 



A HERO'S WELCOME 209 

At Hartford, Connecticut, eight hundred school chil- 
dren, who had saved their pennies, gave Lafayette a 
gold medal, and a hundred veterans of the Revolution 
escorted him through the city to the boat. 

When the grand cavalcade reached Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, the rain came down in torrents, but a thou- 
sand school children, crowned with flowers, lined the road 
to greet the far-famed man, and not one left the ranks. 

In New York City, there was a firemen's parade with 
nearly fifty hand engines, each drawn by thirty red- 
shirted men. A sham house was built and set on fire; 
then, at the captain's signal, the firemen leaped to the 
brakes and showed their foreign guest how fire was put 
out in America. 

Sixty Boston boys, from twelve to fourteen years of 
age, formed a flying artillery company, and, keeping just 
ahead of the long procession, fired salute after salute as 
the party neared the city. 

While in Boston, Lafayette rode out to Quincy one 
Sunday, to pay a visit of respect to the venerable John 
Adams, and dine with him. He was astonished to find 
this noted man and ex- President of the United States 
living in a one-story frame house. Although the old 
statesman was so feeble that his grandchildren had to 
put the food into his mouth, Lafayette said " he kept up 
the conversation on the old times with an ease and readi- 
ness of memory which made us forget his eighty-nine 
years." 



2 10 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

One beautiful night while Lafayette was the guest of 
Philadelphia, the whole city was illuminated in his honor. 
Forty thousand strangers flocked into town for the 
night. The next morning the mayor called upon the 
distinguished guest, and told him that although it was " a 
night of joyous and popular effervescence," perfect order 
prevailed, and not a single arrest was made. 

A word was coined to express this flood tide of 
popular homage, and, for many years afterwards, when- 
ever special honors w^ere paid to anybody, he was said to 
be " Lafayetted." 

A touching incident shows the spirit of gratitude which 
seemed to seize even the humblest of citizens, in trying 
to please the nation's guest. The party stopped at a 
small tavern on a byroad in Virginia, to rest the horses. 
The landlord came out and begged Lafayette to come 
into his house, if only for five minutes. The marquis, 
with his usual courtesy, yielded to the request, and 
entered. 

The plain but neat living room was trimmed with 
fir trees, and upon its whitewashed wall was written, 
in charcoal, " Welcome, Lafayette." On a small table 
was a bottle of strong drink, with glasses, as was the cus- 
tom in those days. There was also a plate of thin slices 
of bread, all neatly covered with a napkin. The land- 
lord introduced his wife, and brought in his little five- 
year old boy. The food was served, and the health of 
the guest was drunk. 



A HERO'S WELCOME 



211 



The speech for the occasion was recited by the boy: 
" General Lafayette, I thank you for the Hberty which 
you have won for rny father, for my mother, for myself, 
and for my country." 

Lafayette was much moved by the sincerity of it all; 
and after kissing the boy and getting into his carriage, 
he said, with tears in 
his eyes, that it was '^'>'^^^M 

one of the happiest '^^"W^iW 

moments of his life. ^^ ^-^.-^^ 

While on his way 
to York town, in Octo- 
ber, Lafayette paid a 
visit to Mount Ver- 
non. Again he passed 
through the rooms 
and over the grounds 
wdth which he was so 
familiar. What mem- 
ories of its owner, his 
great and faithful 
friend for twenty-two years, must have crowded upon 
the old hero ! 

The remains of Washington then lay in the old tomb 
near the river. The door w^as opened, and Lafayette 
went down into the vault, where he remained some 
moments beside the cofifin of his great chief. He came 
out with his head bowed, and with tears streaming down 




Lafayette's Reception at a Roadside Tavern 
in Virginia 



212 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



his face. He then led his son into the tomb, where they 
knelt reverently, and, after the French fashion, kissed 
the coffin. 

Meanwhile, the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of 
Bunker Hill was near at hand. The prosperous and 
happy people of the old Bay State were preparing 
a celebration. The corner stone of 
Bunker Hill Monument was to be 
laid by Lafayette. 

The weather on this memorable 
June day was perfect. Never before 
had such a crowd been seen in 
Boston. 

A Yankee stage driver very aptly 
said, " Everything that had wheels 
and everything that had legs used 
them to get to Boston." 

Through the densely crowded 

streets, a grand civic and military 

procession of seven thousand people 

escorted the guests to Bunker Hill. 

As one famous man said, " It seemed as if no spot where 

a human foot could plant itself was left unoccupied." 

Two hundred officers and soldiers of the Revolution 
marched at the head of the procession. One old man, 
who had been a drummer in the battle of Bunker Hill, 
carried the same drum with which he had rallied the 
patriot forces. 




Bunker Hill Monument 



A HERO'S WELCOME 



How they shouted when the hero of the day came 
riding slowly along, in an open barouche drawn by six 
white horses ! The women waved their handkerchiefs, 
and the gayly decked school children scattered flowers. 

How thrilling it 
was to see those forty 
white-haired men, the 
survivors of Bunker 
Hill! 

During the morn- 
ing, these honored 
heroes had been pre- 
sented to Lafayette. 
He had shaken hands 
with them, had called 
them by name, and 
had spoken a few 
tender words to each 
of them, as if to some 
dear friend. 

Not a field officer or a staff officer of the battle was 
living. Captain Clark, the highest surviving officer, 
came tottering along under the weight of ninety-five 
years, to shake hands with the French nobleman. 

The young man who introduced the veterans, and who 
in after years became one of the most honored citizens 
and mayors of Boston, said of this occasion, " If there 
were dry eyes in the room, mine were not among them." 




Lafayette's Reception, in Boston, to the 
Veterans of the Revolution 



2 14 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



What a scene it was for an historical picture, when the 
brave old minister, the Reverend Joseph Thaxter, who 
was chaplain of Colonel Prescott's regiment, rose to offer • 
prayer and to give the benediction ! As his feeble voice 
was lifted to ask for the blessing of God, it did not seem 
possible that fifty years before, on the same spot, this man 
had stood and prayed for the patriot cause. 

Daniel Webster was the orator of the day. A famous 
Englishman once said that no man could be as great as 
Webster looked, and on this day the majestic orator 
seemed to tower above all other men. 

Every American schoolboy who has had "to speak 

his piece" knows by heart 
the famous passage from 
this oration, beginning, 
"Venerable men! you 
have come down to us 
from a former generation. 
Heaven has bounteously 
lengthened out your 
lives, that you might be- 
hold this joyous day." 

Mr. Webster's voice 
was in such good order 
that fifteen thousand people are said to have been able 
to hear him. 

At the banquet during the same evening, the great 
orator said, " I shall never desire to behold again the 




Daniel Webster 



A HERO'S WELCOME 215 

awful spectacle of so many human faces all turned 
towards me." 

Near the end, Lafayette visited Thomas Jefferson at 
Monticello. The veteran statesman, now eighty-one 
years old, drove his old-time friend and guest over to a 
grand banquet at the University of Virginia. James 
Madison was present. When the students and the great 
crowd of people saw Washington's friend seated between 
the two aged statesmen, a shout went up, the like of 
which, it was said, was never before heard in the Old 
Dominion. 

When Lafayette arrived in America, in August, 1824, 
he first visited the national capital, and was formally 
received at the White House by President Monroe and 
by many of the great men of the country. On his return 
to Washington in 1825, he was told that Congress had 
voted him two hundred thousand dollars and two laro-e 
tracts of land, for his services during the Revolution. 

It was now September, and Lafayette had remained 
in this country much longer than he had expected. The 
new President, John Quincy Adams, gave him a farewell 
dinner at the White House, with a large party of notable 
men. The President's formal farewell to the country's 
guest is a classic in our literature. 

Amid the blessings and the prayers of a grateful 
people, Lafayette sailed for France in the new and 
beautiful frigate Brandywine, which had been built and 
named in his honor. 



2l6 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

For years afterwards, some people used to tell their 
children, with a peculiar thrill and feeling of awe, that 
a beautiful rainbow arched the heavens just before 
Lafayette landed at Staten Island, and that an equally 
beautiful symbol of peace spanned the broad ocean, as 
the steamboat moved slowly down Chesapeake Bay, to 
take the nation's guest on board the Brandywine. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

Chapter I, Page i 

THE HERO OF VINCENNES 

I. Who was Daniel Boone? 2. When did Boone live? 3. How old 
was George Rogers Clark at this time ? 4. Was Clark brave ? 5. Why 
were the pioneers so long in hearing of the battle of Lexington, which 
was fought in April? 6. How did Lexington, Kentucky, get its name? 
7. What kind of life did the pioneers lead in the wilderness ? 8. Did the 
pioneers have other enemies besides the Indians? 9. Why did Clark go 
back to Virginia? 10. Who lived north of the Ohio? 

II. Why did England try to keep the Americans from going west? 
12. Who was Hamilton the " hair buyer " ? 13. What made the Indians 
so hostile to the pioneers? 14. How did Clark plan to defend Kentucky? 
15. Where was the Illinois country? 16. Why did Clark go back a 
second time to Virginia? 17. Did anybody think well of Clark's plan of 
campaign? 18. How much oT an army did Clark have for his campaign? 
19. Where did Clark plan to begin his campaign? 20. Why did Clark 
avoid the Mississippi River? 

21. Whom did Clark have as guides? 22. How long a march was it 
to Kaskaskia ? 23. What time of year was it when Clark marched to 
Kaskaskia ? 24. Did Clark have trouble in getting into the town of Kas- 
kaskia ? 25. What were the people of Kaskaskia doing ? 26. How did 
Clark introduce himself? 27. Who were the Creoles? (Consult a large 
dictionary.) 28. Who helped Clark make friends? 29. What sort of 
man was Clark? 30. What did Hamilton do when he heard of Clark's 
conquest? 

31. Why did not Hamilton march from Vincennes to Kaskaskia? 
32. Why did Clark decide to push on to Vincennes? 33. At what time 

217 



2i8 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

of year did Clark start for Vincennes? 34. What did the little army 
have for food ? 35. What hindered Clark's march ? 36. How long did 
it take to cross the plain of the Wabash River? 37. What is a dugout? 

38. How did the army get along in crossing the Horseshoe Plain ? 

39. Who announced Clark's arrival at Vincennes? 40. At what time did 
Clark reach the village ? 

41. Why did not Clark allow his men to storm the fort? 42. How 
did Clark get possession of the fort? 43. Why was Clark's campaign so 
important? 44. What states are now in this region of Clark's conquest? 
45. Do you think Clark was a hero ? 



Chapter II, Page 18 

A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 

I. Who led the patriots to victory at Saratoga, New York? 2. Why 
did Arnold's leg deserve to be buried with the honors of war? 3. When 
the Revolution began, why did Washington wish to attack Canada? 
4. Why did Washington like Benedict Arnold? 5. How had Arnold got 
information about Canada ? 6. How did Arnold try to make friends of 
the Indians? 7. What is wampum? 8. How was the expedition to 
reach Canada ? 9. Why was it easy to get soldiers for this campaign ? 
10. What time of year was it when the army started? 

II. How were the soldiers treated at Newburyport and at Fort West- 
ern? 12. Who was Jacataqua ? 13. Why did Jacataqua decide to go with 
the troops ? 14. How was the army divided ? 15. What trouble did they 
have with their boats? 16. What is a carrying place? 17. What made 
the army diminish in numbers? 18. Why was it so hard to reach the 
Dead River? 19. Why was the ascent of the Dead River so difficult? 
20. How many cups of flour in half a pint ? 

21. What sort of patriot was Colonel Enos ? 22. When the flour was 
gone, what did the army do for food ? 23. What did Jacataqua do ? 
24. What did Arnold do to save his army ? 25. What sort of man was 
Arnold at this time ? 26. How far did Arnold have to go to get pro- 
visions? 27. When did the army reach Point Levi? 28. WHiat was the 
condition of the army when it reached Point Levi ? 29. What did the 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 219 

Indians do who learned of Arnold's approach? 30. How did Arnold 
reach the city of Quebec? 

31. How did the British treat Arnold and his men? 32. Why did 
Arnold leave Quebec ? 33. What did Sir Guy Carleton do to save 
Quebec? 34. Why did the patriots wait so long before attacking the city? 
35. How was the attack to be made? 36. What happened to Mont- 
gomery, Arnold, and Morgan ? 37. How did relief finally come to Quebec? 
38. How long had this campaign lasted ? 



Chapter III, Page 36 

HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 

I. Why did the British destroy Norfolk? 2. Why did England wish 
to punish North Carolina first of all ? 3. Why did Sir Henry Clinton 
delay the attack upon North Carolina? 4. Why did Lord Campbell wish to 
capture Charleston ? 5. What sort of people were the South Carolinians ? 
6. Why was a fort built on Sullivan's Island? 7. Who was Moultrie? 
8. How were the walls of the fort made ? 9. How many cannon did 
Moultrie have ? 10. What made the patriots skillful in firing the cannon ? 

II. What was the difference between General Charles Lee and Governor 
Rutledge? 12. What sort of man was Colonel Moultrie? 13. How did 
the British plan to attack the fort? 14. How was the weather on the day 
of the batde ? 15. How many cannon were the British able to fire at one 
time ? 16. What happened to the men-of-war when they were changing 
their positions ? 17. What sort of men were in the palmetto fort ? 
18. Do you know a good use for palmetto logs ? 19. What share in 
the battle did Sir Henry Clinton and his men have? 20. Did the patriots 
have plenty of powder? 

21. What did McDaniel think about when he was dying? 22. Why 
did the people of Charleston suppose the fort had surrendered ? 23. What 
did Jasper do to save the flag? 24. Why did not Jasper accept promo- 
tion? 25. The people of South CaroHna decreed that the fort on Sul- 
livan's Island should forever be called Fort Moultrie, Why do you 
think they did so? 26. What was the effect of Moultrie's victory? 
27. What can you say of Moultrie's after life ? 



2 20 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Chapter IV, Page 50 

THE PATRIOT SPY 

I. What condition of affairs was troubling Washington at this time? 
2. Were the British well situated at this time? 3. Why did Washington 
withdraw from New York? 4. What did Washington think should be 
done? 5. What kind of man was needed to carry out Washington's plan? 

6. Why did Knowlton find it hard to get a man for Washington's purpose ? 

7. What reason did Nathan Hale give for volunteering to act as spy? 

8. What kind of home did Hale have? 9. What kind of boy had Hale 
been? 10. What was Hale doing at the time of the battle of Lexington? 

II. What did Hale do when he learned of the battle of Lexington? 
12. What kind of life did Hale lead when captain in the army ? 13. How 
did Hale disguise himself ? 14. What sort of place was " The Cedars " ? 

15. Was it wise for Hale to spend the night at " Mother Chick's " tavern ? 

16. What did the British marines do with Hale? 17. Where did the 
captain of the Hahfax send Hale? 18. Did Hale receive a trial? 
19. What do you think of Cunningham ? 20. What regret did Hale 
have ? 

21. How was Hale executed? 22. Where was Hale buried ? 23. Was 
Hale a patriot? 24. Would you call Hale a hero? 

Chapter V, Page 62 
OUR greatest patriot 

I. Whom do you consider our greatest patriot? 2. What kind of 
example has Washington set us?. 3. Why do we admire Washington? 
4. What was Washington's appearance? 5. What do you know of 
Washington's strength? 6. What was Washington's favorite amusement? 
7. What can you say of Washington's dignity? 8. What was Washing- 
ton's diet ? 9. What do you know of Washington's fondness for fine 
dress ? 10. What can you say of Washington's education ? 

II. What kind of horseman was Washington? 12. How wealthy was 
Washington? 13. How did Washington become so wealthy? 14. How 
much land did Washington have? 15. What did Washington think of 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 221 

slaves? 16. How did Washington treat his slaves? 17. How did Wash- 
ington's slaves treat him ? 18. Why did Washington call his house " a 
well resorted tavern"? 19. What can you say of Washington's charity? 
20. What kept Washington from financial ruin ? 

21. How did Washington look when at the meeting at Newburgh, New 
York ? 22. How was the first President of the United States dressed when 
he made his formal visit to Congress ? 23. What can you say of Washing- 
ton's gravity ? 24. What do you know of President Washington's public 
receptions ? 25. How did the guests enjoy President Washington's grand 
dinners? 26. In what did Washington's greatness consist? 

Chapter VI, Page "]"] 

A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 

I. What sort of general was Washington? 2. What did General Clin- 
ton think of Washington ? 3. What part of the country did Washington 
need to protect? 4. What did the British do in May, 1779? 5. Why 
was it important for the Americans to have possession of King's Ferry ? 
6. Where did the patriot army now take up its quarters ? 7. How did the 
British soldiers act in Connecticut? 8. Why did General Clinton send 
out raiders? 9. Why did not Washington follow up Clinton's raiders? 
10. What did Washington decide to do? 

II. What kind of place was Stony Point? 12. Who had possession 
of Stony Point? 13. How was Stony Point defended? 14. How many 
soldiers were in the garrison at Stony Point? 15. What does Washington 
Irving say of Stony Point? 16. What name did the British give to Stony 
Point? 17. Who led the attack on Stony Point? 18. How old was 
General Anthony Wayne at this time? 19. How did Wayne look? 
20. Why was Wayne called " Mad Anthony " ? 

21. What sort of soldier was Anthony Wayne? 22. What was Wash- 
ington's plan of attack ? 23. At what hour was the attack to be made ? 
24. What weapons were to be used in attacking Stony Point ? 25. How 
many men were chosen to go to Stony Point? 26. What time of year was 
it now? 27. Why was the soldier put to death for loading his gun? 
28. What sort of road was it to Stony Point? 29. When did the men 
learn where they were going? 30. What was the watchword? 



222 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

31. What did Wayne write to his friend? 32. What did Pompey do? 
33. How did Wayne divide his army to make the attack? 34. What is a 
"forlorn hope"? (Consult a large dictionary.) 35. How did the Ameri- 
cans show their good discipline ? 36. What are pioneers ? (Consult a large 
dictionary.) 37. What was the effect of having Colonel Murfree and his 
men appear in front of the fort ? 38. How long did the fight last ? 
39. How many of the British escaped from Stony Point? 40. Why did 
not Washington hold Stony Point ? 

41. What effect did this victory have on the American soldier ? 42. What 
did the British think of the " rebels " ? 43. How did General Clinton take 
it all ? 

Chapter VII, Page 90 

THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 

I. How did the patriots of the South get on in 1780? 2. What have 
we already learned about Sir Henry Clinton? (See the Index, page 243.) 

3. What were General Gates's "Northern laurels"? (See page 18.) 

4. What sort of man was Gates? (Compare page 105.) 5. What effect 
did the crushing blows of the British have on the Southern patriots? 

6. What orders did Tarleton and Ferguson receive from Lord Cornwallis? 

7. What sort of man was Ferguson ? 8. What threat did Ferguson send 
to the backwoodsmen? 9. What was the character of the Franklin and 
Holston settlers? 10. What is the name of the state that grew out of the 
Frankhn and Holston settlements ? 

II. What have we already learned about the Holston settlements ? (See 
page I.) 12. What had become of the lawless men of the Franklin and 
Holston settlements ? 13. What did the people do when they heard Fer- 
guson's threat? 14. Where was the money got to buy suppHes for the 
army ? 15. What do you know of the gathering at Sycamore Shoals ? 
16. How were the backwoodsmen dressed ? 17. What arms did the 
backwoodsmen have? 18. Who was Samuel Doak? 19. Why were 
the bands of pioneers put under one supreme commander? 20. Why did 
the backwoodsmen not find Ferguson at Gilberttown ? 

21. What kind of spirit did the pioneers show in their pursuit of Fer- 
guson? 22. How far away were the patriots when Ferguson camped at 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 223 

King's Mountain ? 23. Wliy did Ferguson choose King's Mountain for 
his camp ? 24. How long were the riflemen in getting from Cowpens to 
King's Mountain ? 25. What was the riflemen's plan of attack ? 26. How 
was Ferguson killed ? 27. Who succeeded Ferguson in command ? 28. Why 
was this battle so fierce ? 29. What was the effect of the victory at King's 
Mountain? 

Chapter VIII, Page 105 

FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR GENERAL 

I. What have we already learned of Gates ? (See the Index, page 243.) 
2. Where was Daniel Morgan's home? 3. What kind of education did 
Morgan have ? 4. Why was Morgan well thought of by the village peo- 
ple ? 5. What kind of times were at hand ? 6. Why did Morgan wish to 
fight the bully? 7. What is a drumhead court-martial? (Consult a large 
dictionary.) 8. What do you know of Morgan's strength ? 9. Why did 
Morgan stop driving army wagons? 10. Why did Governor Dinwiddie 
object to promoting Morgan ? 

II. How did Morgan escape from the Indian? 12. What effect did the 
army life have on Morgan ? 13. What can you say of Morgan's marriage? 
14. W^iat do you know of Morgan's religious life ? 15. When was Mor- 
gan appointed captain? 16. How many men answered Morgan's call? 
17. How long a march was it to Boston? 18. When was Morgan made a 
colonel ? 19. What kind of regiment did Morgan command ? 20. What 
was the duty of Morgan and his sharpshooters? 

21. What have we already learned about Morgan at Saratoga, New 
York? (See page 18.) 22. How did the Hessians like Morgan's rifle- 
men ? 23. What did Burgoyne think of Morgan's regiment ? 24. Why did 
Morgan leave the army for a while ? 25. Why did Morgan return to the 
army ? 26. When was Morgan made a brigadier general ? 27. What do 
you remember about King's Mountain? (Seepages 99-104.) 28. Why 
did the battle of Cowpens make Morgan so famous ? 29. What does 
John Fiske say of this batde ? 30. What do you know of Colonel 
Tarleton? (See page 91.) 

31. Where did Morgan get the names "old wagoner," "wagoner," and 
"teamster"? (See pages 106-108.) 32. Why did not Morgan meet 



2 24 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

Tarleton at once ? 33. Why did Morgan choose Cowpens for his battle 
ground? 34. What did Tarleton do when the spy told him that Morgan 
had halted ? 35. What was the condition of Morgan and his men when 
Tarleton appeared? 36. What was the condition of Tarleton's soldiers 
when they began the battle ? 37. What did Tarleton do when defeat came ? 
38. What did the young ladies say to Tarleton? 39. How did Morgan 
outwit Lord Cornwallis ? 40. Why did Morgan again retire from service ? 
41. When did Morgan again take part in the war? 42. What do you 
know about Wayne ? (See pages 80-89.) 43* How was Morgan remem- 
bered by Washington and other leaders? 44. In how many battles did 
Morgan take part ? 45. What was Morgan besides being a great soldier ? 
46. What was Morgan's success due to ? 47. How is Morgan's valor 
commemorated ? 

Chapter IX, Page 123 

THE FINAL VICTORY 

I. What have you already learned about General Greene ? (See page 105.) 

2. What was the condition of Lord Cornwallis after his victory over Greene ? 

3. What did Cornwalhs now do? 4. Where is Petersburg, Virginia? 
(See the map on page 99.) 5. What was the nationality of Lafayette ? 
6. Where is Yorktown ? (See the map on page 99.) 7. Where was 
Washington at this time ? 8. Where was the main part of the patriot 
army at this time ? 9. What was Washington planning to do ? 10. Who 
was Count de Grasse ? 

II. Why did news travel so slowly in those days? 12. Why did Wash- 
ington need a fleet? 13. What did Washington hope to do with the 
assistance of the French fleet? 14. Where was Sir Henry Clinton at this 
time? 15. Why did Washington send troops to Long Island? 16. Why 
was the young minister sent through the Clove ? 17. How were the 
Continental and French troops received at Philadelphia? 18. How large 
an army did Washington have in Virginia? 19. What have we already 
learned of Rochambeau? (See page 125.) 20. When did Sir Henry 
Clinton begin to open his eyes? 

21. How did the British fleet fare at Chesapeake Bay? 22. Why did 
not Lord Cornwallis retreat from Yorktown? 23. Why did the patriots 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 225 

hasten the siege of Yorktown? 24. What last attempt did Lord Corn- 
wallis make? 25. Where did Lord Cornwallis have his headquarters? 
26. What kind of man was Governor Nelson? 27. Where did Lord 
Cornwallis finally make his headquarters? 28. W^hat message did Sir 
Henry Clinton send Lord Cornwallis? 29. How long did the siege of 
Yorktown continue? 30. Why did Lord Cornwalhs wish a truce for so 
long a time ? 

31. What was Washington's reply to Lord Cornwallis? 32. How many 
soldiers were there in Cornwallis's army? 33. Why did not Cornwallis 
take part in the surrender? 34. Whom did Washington send to receive 
Cornwallis's sword ? 35. Why did the armies hurry away from Yorktown ? 

36. How might Sir Henry Clinton have changed the history of Yorktown? 

37. How did the people get news of the surrender? 38. How was the 
news received by the prime minister of England, and by the king? 
39. What did King George say of the Yankees? 40. How is the sur- 
render of Cornwallis commemorated ? 



Chapter X, Page 138 

THE CRISIS 

I. What battle began the war of the Revolution? (See pages i and 2.) 
2. How long did the war last? 3. What did Thomas Paine, the author of 
the pamphlet called " Common Sense," say of the Revolutionary War ? 

4. What does John Fiske say of our condition after peace was made? 

5. Why did the colonies band together in 1774? 6. Why did the Conti- 
nental Congress dechne in power? 7. What is a federation? (Consult 
a large dictionary.) 8. Why did the people care so little about a federa- 
tion, or federal government? 9. What did Washington say in his letter 
to the colonies ? 10. What authority did the Continental Congress have ? 

II. What kind of men were delegates to the Continental Congress? 
12. How long did the Continental Congress continue to act? 13. What 
was done by the Continental Congress? 14. What is a privateer? 
(Consult a large dictionary.) 15. What can you say of the Articles of 
Confederation? 16. What power did the Articles of Confederation 
grant to each state? 17. What power did Congress have under the 



2 26 hf:ro stories from American history 

Articles of Confederation? i8. How obedient were the states to the 
Articles of Confederation ? 19. What was the condition of paper money 
in 1780? 20. How long had a soldier to serve before he could buy a 
bushel of wheat? 

21. How did the states begin to treat each other? 22. What can you 
say of imprisonment for debt? 23. How did Washington and others 
begin to work out the problem of our national existence? 24. How 
successful was the meeting at Annapolis? 25. What further troubles 
occurred in 1786? 26. How was England affected by our troubles? 
27. What prediction about our nation was made in Parliament? 28. What 
opinion of us did Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, have ? 29. What did 
the people of the several states at last begin to think ? 30. WHiat state 
took the lead in sending delegates to Philadelphia? 

31. How many states were represented at Philadelphia? 32. What kind 
of men were sent to the Philadelphia convention ? 33. Who, next to Wash- 
ington, was the most noted ^nan at the Philadelphia convention? 34. Can 
you name some others of the delegates to the Philadelphia convention? 
35. Why did not Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Patrick Henry, and 
Samuel Adams attend the Philadelphia convention? 36. What do you 
know of Nathanael Greene? (See page 105.) 37. Who was chosen 
president of the Philadelphia convention ? 38. How long did the Phila- 
delphia convention continue in session? 39. How did some of the dele- 
gates wish to deal with the great problem of the national government ? 
40. How did Washington convince the delegates of their duty? 

41. By what means did the delegates at Philadelphia succeed in agreeing 
on a form of federal government? 42. What is a compromise? (Consult 
a large dictionary.) 43. What was the first compromise in framing the 
Constitution ? 44. What was the second compromise in framing the Con- 
stitution? 45. What question about the slaves arose? 46. How was it 
decided to count the slaves ? 47. How did Washington and others feel 
about the second compromise ? 48. What was the cause of the third com- 
promise ? 49. What was the third compromise? 50. WHiat did Wash- 
ington think of the Constitution ? 

51. What was Franklin's opinion of the Constitution? 52. When was 
the Constitution to become law ? 53. To what two political parties did 
the Constitution give rise ? 54. What did many of the people throughout 



I 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 227 

the country think of the Constitution ? 55, Which was the first state to 
sign the Constitution? 56. Why was the Fourth of July in 1788 so glo- 
rious? 57. Who was the first President, and who the first Vice President, 
of the new nation? 58. What did Gladstone say of the Constitution ? 
59. Why do we owe such a debt of gratitude to the builders of " the 
good ship Constitution " ? 



Chapter XI, Page 156 

A DARING EXPLOIT 

I. Who were the Barbary pirates? 2. Why did we buy the good will 
of the Barbary pirates? 3. What is blackmail? (Consult a large dic- 
tionary.) 4. What did Thomas Jefferson think should be done concerning 
the Barbary pirates? 5. Who was sent to the Mediterranean Sea? 
6. What was the exploit of the Enterprise ? 7. What is a pasha? (Con- 
sult a large dictionary.) 8. What happened to the frigate Philadelphia 
and her crew ? 9. What did Commodore Preble do when the Philadelphia 
was captured ? 10. Why was Stephen Decatur chosen to destroy the 
Philadelphia? 

II. What was Decatur's plan for destroying the Philadelphia? 12. What 
is a ketch ? (Consult a large dictionary.) 13. How many men volun- 
teered for the dangerous undertaking? 14. What kind of time did Decatur 
and his men have off the shore of Tripoli ? 15. What happened to the 
Siren? 16. How was the Philadelphia guarded? 17. What was the object 
in dragging sails and buckets in the water? 18. How did Decatur deceive 
the pirate officer? 19. How did the pirates discover the Americans? 
20. What kind of fighters were the Tripolitan pirates said to be? 

21. How long did the fight on board the Philadelphia last? 22. How 
many of Decatur's men were injured? 23. What did the Americans do 
with the Philadelphia? 24. Why were the Americans obliged to burn the 
Philadelphia? (Read page 159.) 25. How successful were the pirates in 
firing at the Americans ? 26. What did the sailors say afterwards about 
the burning ship ? 27. Why was it the Americans were so successful 
in burning the Philadelphia? 28. What did Nelson say of Decatur's 
deed ? 29. What promotion did Decatur receive ? 



2 28 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 
Chapter XH, Page 169 

"OLD IRONSIDES" 

I. What did the Secretary of the Navy in 1833 intend to do with the 
Constitution? 2. Why did Congress decide to rebuild the Constitution? 
3. What troubles did we have with other nations during the first twenty-five 
years of our national life ? 4. Why was Washington instructed to add six 
war ships to our navy? 5. Where was the Constitution built? 6. How 
does the Constitution compare in size with our modern war ships ? 7. Why 
did England model some of her ships after " Old Ironsides " ? 8. When 
was the Constitution launched ? 9. What success did the Constitution 
have in fighting with Tripoli ? 10. How did Commodore Preble treat 
Decatur after his capture of the Tripolitan gunboats ? 

II. How did Captain Isaac Hull get away from the British f^eet? 
12. How did Captain Hull win a hat from Captain Dacres? 13. How 
is the Constitution said to have received the name "Old Ironsides"? 

14. What kind of welcome did Boston have in store for Captain Hull? 

15. What was the hardest battle that "Old Ironsides" had? 16. What 
was done with the wheel of the Java? 17. Why was not a new wheel 
put on "Old Ironsides"? 18. How did Captain Bainbridge treat the 
dying Captain Lambert? 19. What was the Constitution's last battle? 
20. What is said of Captain Stewart's seamanship in the last battle of 
"Old Ironsides"? 

21. When was "Old Ironsides" taken to Newport? 22. How was 
"Old Ironsides" used at Newport? 23. What is a receiving ship? 
(Consult a large dictionary, under the word "receive" or " receiving.") 
24. When was " Old Ironsides " taken to Charlestown ? 25. How much 
of the original ship Constitution still exists? 26. Why were the battles 
of " Old Ironsides " so important to us as a nation ? 27. Why should 
we continue to preserve " Old Ironsides " ? 

Chapter XIII, Page 185 

"OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 

I. Why were both England and France so jealous of us a century ago? 
2. What did England and France do to our merchantmen? 3. Why did 



QUESTIONS f'OR REVIEW 229 

we not declare war on Great Britain before 181 2 ? 4. How did our navy 
compare with England's in 1812? 5. What was England's plan in 1814? 
6. What was the character of New Orleans? 7. Who was the "Iron 
Duke"? (Wellington.) 8. When did the British fleet arrive at the delta 
of the Mississippi ? 9. Why was General Jackson so busy just before Christ- 
mas ? 10. How was the alarm sounded to the people of New Orleans? 

II. Who answered Jackson's call for assistance? 12. Who came from 
outside New Orleans to help defend the city? 13. How did the riflemen 
look as they came into town? 14. Why did Jackson plan to attack the 
British at once ? 15. What did the war schooner Carolina do ? 16. How 
were the British reenforced on Christmas day? 17. What did Sir Edward 
Pakenham think of the task before him? 18. How did Pakenham begin 
his operations ? 19. How did Sir Edward fare when he marched out to 
get a look at the Americans? 20. What were Jackson's first intrench- 
ments made of ? 

21. What did Pakenham use for making a redoubt? 22. What hap- 
pened to Jackson's defenses? 23. Of how much use was Pakenham's 
redoubt? 24. What did the British now decide to do? 25. What was 
Jackson's main line of defense? 26. How early did Jackson's men go 
to their posts on that last Sunday morning? 27. What happened to Sir 
Edward Pakenham, and to Generals Gibbs and Keane ? 28. Why did the 
British lose so many officers in the battle ? 29. How long did the engage- 
ment on Sunday morning continue? 30. How many men did the British 
have in the final action, and how many did the Americans have ? 

31. How many men did the British lose in the final action, and how 
many did the Americans lose? 32. What did General Lambert do after 
the battle? 33. How was "Old Hickory" honored? 34. Why is the 
victory a sad one to think of? 35. What was the result of the war of 
1812? 

Chapter XIV, Page 199 

A HERO'S WELCOME 

I. What kind of welcome did we give Lafayette in 1824 ? 2. Who was 
Lafayette ? 3. Why did Lafayette first come to this country ? 4. When 
did Lafayette first come to this country ? 5. Why did Congress accept 
Lafayette's services ? 6. What was the effect of Lafayette's manner and 



230 HERO STORIES FROIVL, AMERICAN HISTORY 

example? 7. How did Lafayette live at Valley Forge? 8. What did 
Lafayette do on his return to France? 9. What did Lafayette do when 
peace was declared ? 10. When did Lafayette make his third trip to this 
country ? 

II. How had our country changed when Lafayette came in 1824? 
12. What had been Lafayette's career in his own country? 13. Why did 
it take Lafayette so long to go from New York to Boston ? 14. Who 
was Dr. Bowditch ? 15. How much of our country did Lafayette visit? 
16. What did Lafayette do with the laurel wreath presented to him at 
Yorktown? 17. Can you describe some of the incidents of Lafayette's 
visit? 18. What did " Lafayetted " mean? 19. What occurred at the 
tavern in Virginia ? 20. How did Lafayette show his affection for 
Washington ? 

21. What can you say of the scenes connected with the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the battle of Bunker Hill? 22. Who was the orator at the laying 
of the corner stone of Bunker Hill Monument? 23. How was Lafayette 
received at the University of Virginia? 24. How did Congress show 
its gratitude for Lafayette's services during the Revolution? 25. What 
was the last honor shown the departing guest? (The frigate on which 
Lafayette sailed for France was named in commemoration of Lafayette's 
gallantry at the battle of the Brandywine. Although wounded in the leg, 
Lafayette kept the field till the battle was over. To the surgeon who cared 
for the injured Lafayette, Washington said, " Take care of him as though 
he were my son.") 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES 



Abigail, ab'i-gl. 
Adair, a-dair' . 
Algerine, al-Je-feen'. 
Alleghanies, al'e-ga-7iies. 
Andre, an' dray . 
Annapolis, an-7iap'o-lis. 



Bailey, bay'ly. 
Bainbridge, bain' bridge. 
Barbary, bar'ba-ry. 
Belgium, bel'ji-nni. 
Borgne, born. 
Brandyvvine, bran'dy-wine. 
Brazil, bra-sil' . 
Burgoyne, bur-goiti' . 



Cahokia, ka-ho'ki-a. 
Calhoun, kal-hoon' . 
Carleton, karl'ton. 
Carolina, kar-o-li'na. 
Catalano, kah-tah-lah'no. 
Catawba, ka-taw'ba. 
Champlain, sham-plain' . 
Chaudiere, sho-de-air' . 
Chesapeake, ches'a-peek. 
Connecticut, kon-nefi-kut. 
Cornwallis, korn-wall'iss. 
Creole, kre'ole. 
Cunningham, kuji'ing-aifi. 
Cyane, see-ann'. 



D acres, day'kers. 
Dearborn, deer'biirn. 
Decatur, de-kay'tur. 
De Grasse, de-grass'. 
Detroit, de-troit'. 
Dickinson, dik'in-son. 
Dinwiddle, din-wid'y. 



Farragut, far'a-gut. 



Gardiner, gard'ner. 
Gerry, ger'y {g as in get). 
Ghent, jent. 
Gibault, z he-bo'. 
Gibraltar, ji-brall'tar. 
Gladstone, glad'ston. 
Gloucester, gloss' ter. 
Gouverneur, goo-ver-ner. 
Grier, greer. 
Guerri^re, gher-i-air'. 
Guilford, gil'ford {g as \nget). 



Hessians, hesh'c 



Illinois, il-i-tioi' or il-i-nois'. 



Jacataqua, ja-cat'a-qiiah. 



^31 



232 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Kaskaskia, kas-kas'ki-a. 
Keane, keen. 
Kennebec, ken-e-bek\ 



Lafayette, lah-fa-yet'. 
Lafitte, lah-Jit'. 
Levant, le-vant' . 
Louisiana, loo-eez-i-an'a. 
Louisville, loo'is-vill or loo'y-vill. 

M 

McDonough, inak-do7i'oJi. 
Madeira, 7na-de'ra or ina-day'i-fa. 
Maltese, mall-tees' or 7nall-teez'. 
Marseillaise, m arse-lay z' . 
Maryland, 7ner'i-laiid. 
Mediterranean, 7)ied-i-ter-ra' 7ie-a7t . 
Megantic, 7ne-ga7i'tic. 
Meigs, i7\egs. 
Montaigne, 77io7i-tai7i'. 
Monticello, 7)io7i-te-serio. 
Montreal, 77io7it-7'e-all' . 

Morocco, 7770-7'OCk'o. 

Moultrie, 77100' try or 77tool'try. 

N 

Napoleon, 7ia-po'le-07i. 
Newburyport, 7tew-ber-y-po7'f . 
Newfoundland, new'fii7td-la7id. 
Nolichucky, 7iol-i-chuck'y. 
Norridgewock, 7ior't'J-walk. 



O'Hara, o-hah'ra. 



Pakenham, pak'e7i-a7n. 
Portsmouth, ports' 77ttith. 



Preble, p7'eb'eL 
Prussia, pnish'a. 

Q 

Quebec, kwee-bek' . 
Quincy, k'wi7i'zy. 

R 

Randolph, ra7i'dolf. 
Rappahannock, rap-a-ha7i'ok. 
Rawdon, ra'w'do7i. 
Rennie, 7'e7i'y. 
Revere, re-veer' . 
Rochambeau, 7'o-sha77i-bo' . 

S 

St. Louis, sai7it loo'is or sai7it loo'y. 

Saratoga, sar-a-to'ga. 

Sartigan, sar'ti-ga7i. 

Schuyler, sky'ler. 

Sevier, se-veef . 

Shawnees, shaw-7ieez'. 

Staten, stat'e7i. 



Tallmadge, tal'77tij. 
Ticonderoga, ti-ko7t-de-ro'ga. 
Tilghman, till'77ia7i. 
Tompkins, to77ip'ki7is. 
Tripoli, trip'o-ly. 

V 

Ville de Paris, vill de (e as in /ler) 

pah-ree'. 
Villere, vill-e-ray'. 
Vincennes, vi7i-se7tz'. 

W 

Wabash, ivaw'bash. 

Watauga, wa-taw'ga. 

Wayne, wai7i. 

Worcester, woos'ter {00 as mfoot^. 



APPENDIX 

BOOKS FOR REFERENCE AND READING IN THE 
STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

This book is designed to be used either before the formal text-book on 
American history is begun, or to be read in connection with it. It is also 
intended to serve as a convenient basis for more extended work on the part 
of both teacher and pupils. Hence, to the reading of the preceding chapters 
should be added a systematic course in supplementary reading. 

The following plan is suggested, which may be readily modified to meet 
the needs of any particular class of pupils : 

Reference Books for Teachers 

Two books are of special value to teachers. These are Channing and 
Hart's Guide to American History (Ginn & Company, $2.00), and Gordy 
and Twitchell's Pathfinder in American History (Lee & Shepard, |i.20. 
In separate parts, Part I, 60 cents ; Part II, 90 cents). 

These two works are replete with suggestions, hints, and helps on col- 
lateral study, with numerous references, detailed lists of topics, and a wide 
range of other subjects which make them indispensable to the teacher 
of American history. 

Note. — The subject of reference books on American history is treated thoroughly in 
Montgomery's American History (see "Short List of Books," page xxxiii in Appendix), 
and Fiske's History of the Uttifed States (see Appendix D, page 530, Appendix E, page 539, 
and Appendix F, page 542). 

For original materials pertaining to the colonial period and the Revolution, admirably 
edited for school use, consult Hart's " Source-Readers in American History " : No. i, Colonial 
Children; No. 2, Camps and Firesides of the Revolution ; No. 3, Hoiv our Grandfathers 
Lived. 

In searching libraries for books on the Revolution, the teacher will find 
Winsor's Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution very useful. 

233 



234 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



School Text-Books for Reading and Reference 

Pupils should have easy access, by means of the school library or other- 
wise, to a few of the formal school text-books on American history. In 
connection with this book, Montgomery's Leading Facts of American 
Histo?y, Fiske's History of the United States, Eggleston's History of 
the United States, and Steele's Brief History of the United States (usually 
known as " Barnes's History ") are especially valuable. 

If less difficult and much smaller works are thought desirable, the fol- 
lowing five books are recommended : Montgomery's Begitiner's Atnerican 
History, Mc Master's Prima?y History of the United States, Tappan's Our 
Country s Story, Thorpe's funior History of the United States, and Eggle- 
ston's First Book in A7nerican History. 

These books are useful for additional topics, for dates, maps, illustra- 
tions, reference tables, and for filling in subjects which do not come within 
the scope of this book. 

Pupils should also have easy reference to books from which topics may 
be read, or from which may be read sparingly passages indicated by the 
teacher. Some of the books which have been suggested are more useful on 
account of their interesting style than for strict historical accuracy. Read 
the designated works not as a whole, but only by topics or by selections. 
They will do much to awaken and maintain a lively interest in American 
history. 

Reading at Home 

While the study of this book is in progress, it is well for the pupils to limit 
their home reading to such books as bear directly upon the subject. Under 
this head we have suggested several books which belong to the " storybook " 
order. Wholesome books of fiction and semifiction may certainly do much 
to stimulate and hold the attention of young students of American history. 
Thus, Churchill's Richard Carvel and Cooper's Pilot furnish stirring scenes 
in the career of Paul Jones. 

With the home reading, as with all other collateral reading, the teacher 
should exercise a careful supervision. 

The work in history should be enlivened by reading occasionally, before 
the class or the school, poems or prose selections which bear directly upon 



APPENDIX ' 235 

the general topic under consideration.^ For instance, in the appropriate 
chapters Finch's well-known poem, " Nathan Hale," Simms's " Ballad of 
King's Mountain," and Holmes's " Old Ironsides " may be read. 

A Topic Book, or Notebook 

Teacher and pupil should appreciate the scope and the usefulness of 
a topic book, or notebook. By this is meant a blank book of a convenient 
size, with semiflexible or board covers, and of at least forty-eight pages. 
Into this blank book should be written carefully, with ink, brief notes, as 
the several chapters of this book are read or studied. It may well be a 
kind of enlarged diary of the pupil's work. 

Make brief notes of the various books read in whole or in part ; of topics 
not treated in this book but discussed in the class, such as the treason of 
Benedict Arnold, the battle of Bennington, etc. ; of references to new books 
to be reserved for future reading ; and of other subjects which will readily 
suggest themselves. 

This notebook should be enlivened with inexpensive photographic copies 
(sold for about one cent each) of famous pictures illustrating important 
events in American history. Catalogues giving the exact tides, the cost, 
and other details are frequently advertised. 

The notebook may be illustrated with photographic reproductions of such 
works as Stuart's " Washington " ; Faed's " Washington at Trenton " ; 
Trumbull's " The Surrender of CornwalHs " and " Signing the Declaration of 
Independence " ; Benjamin West's " Penn's Treaty " ; Leutze's " Washing- 
ton crossing the Delaware " ; Vanderlyn's " The Landing of Columbus " ; 
Johnson's " Old Ironsides " ; Overend's " An August Morning with Far- 
ragut ; " and many other historical subjects. 

Portraits, maps, facsimiles of documents and autographs, etc., etc. are 
often easily obtained from book catalogues, guide books, advertising pages, 
and secondhand text-books. 

All this illustrative material should be pasted into the notebook at the 
proper place, neatly and with good judgment, with plenty of space for 
margins. Such a compilation is, of course, a matter of slow growth. It 
should be preserved as a pleasant reminder of school days. 

1 For a list of books which may be classed as useful under the preceding paragraphs, see 
Blaisdell's Siory of American History ^ pp. 431-434. 



236 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



REFERENCE BOOKS AND SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

TO BE USED WITH "HERO STORIES FROM 

AMERICAN HISTORY" 

Chapter I, Page i 

THE HERO OF VINCENNES 

For two short articles on George Rogers Clark, read Roosevelt and 
Lodge's Hero Tales from American History, p. 29, and Brady's Border 
Fights and Fighters, p. 211. For a more extended account, consult 
Roosevelt's Winnifig of the West, Vol. II, p. 31. 

A novel by Maurice Thompson, Alice of Old Vincennes^ gives a graphic 
description of Clark's campaign. 

Chapter II, Page 18 

A MIDWINTER CAMPAIGN 

For an account of Arnold's expedition to Canada, read articles in The 
Century Magazine for January and February, 1903, by Professor Justin H. 
Smith. Codman's Arnold's Expedition to Quebec is a fair-sized volume, 
and full of interest. Read also Lodge's Story of the Revolution, Vol. I, 
p. 106. 

Tomlinson's Under Colonial Colors, the story of Arnold's expedition to 
Quebec told for boys, is an interesting and stimulating work of fiction. 



Chapter III, Pacje 36 

HOW PALMETTO LOGS MAY BE USED 

The defense of Fort Sullivan is well described in Brady's American 
Fights a?id Fighters, p. 5, and Lodge's Sto?y of the Revolution, Vol. I, 
p. 126. 



APPENDIX 237 



Chapter IV, Page 50 

THE PATRIOT SPY 

Perhaps the most readable account of Nathan Hale is to be found in 
Lossing's Two Spies (Andre and Hale). Consult Partridge's Nathan Hale, 
a character study. 

In connection with this story, Chapter XVII, "The Story of Arnold's 
Treason," in Blaisdell's Story of American History may be profitably 
read. 

Chapter V, Page 62 

OUR GREATEST PATRIOT 

For the everyday life of Washington, consult Paul Leicester Ford's The 
True George Washington. Refer to sundry sections in Bolton's The 
Private Soldier under Washington and in Herbert's Washington : His 
Homes and his Households. 

Read the stirring romance about Washington, A Virginia Cavalier, by 
Molly Elliot Seawell. 

Chapter VI, Page yj 

A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE 

For the capture of Stony Point, read Lodge's Story of the Revolution, 
Vol. II, p. 130 ; Brady's American Fights and Fighters, p. 121 ; and Roose- 
velt and Lodge's Hero Tales from Afnerican History, p. 79. Henry P. 
Johnston's The Stornmig of Stony Point is perhaps the best account ever 
written of this famous exploit. 



Chapter VII, Page 90 

THE DEFEAT OF THE RED DRAGOONS 

Read Roosevelt and Lodge's Hero Talcs from American History, p. 69, 
and Lodge's Story of the Revolution, p. 56. 



238 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 

In connection with Chapters VH and VHI, read "The War of the Revo- 
lution in the South," in Blaisdell's Story of Americaii History, Chapter XVI, 
p. 250. 

Chapter VHI, Page 105 

FROM TEAMSTER TO MAJOR GENERAL 

Read Brady's American Fights and Fighters, p. 84, f»r an account of 
General Morgan ; also Chapter IV, " King's Mountain and the Cowpens," in 
Lodge's Story of the Revolution, Vol. II, p. ^6. 

Chapter IX, Page 123 

THE FINAL VICTORY 

For a description of the battle at Yorktown, read Brady's American 
Fights and Fighters, p. 143, and Chapter VII in Lodge's Story of the 
Revolution, p. 165. Henry P. Johnston's The Yorktown Ca7Hpaign is 
excellent for collateral reference. 



Chapter X, Page 138 

THE CRISIS 

Very little collateral reading should be allowed in reading this chapter 
on framing the Constitution. Sundry topics may be sparingly selected for 
reading from the index to Fiske's Critical Period of Afnerican History. 
Fiske's Civil Government in the United States may be utilized for 
reference. 

Read Brooks's Century Book for Young Afnericansj Chapter II in 
Elson's Side Lights on American History (First Series, p. 24), on "The 
Framing of the Constitution"; and Chapter XII, p. 283, in Higginson's 
Larger History of the United States, on "The Birth of a Nation." 

Note.— For the War of the Revolution no more interesting books can be read by pupils 
than Brooks's Century Book of the Revolution and Coffin's Boys of ''■jb. Lossing's Field 
Book of the Revolution, in two large volumes, is interesting, and contains hundreds of 
illustrations. 



APPENDIX 239 



Chapter XI, Page 156 

A DARING EXPLOIT 

Read " Decatur and the Philadelphia," in Brady's Ainerican Fights and 
Fighters, p. 199, and "The Burning of the Philadelphia," in Roosevelt 
and Lodge's Hero Tales from American History, p. 103. 

Read Seawell's storybook, Decatur and Soiners j and Barnes's Commo- 
dore Bainbridge, a story. 

Chapter XII, Page 169 

"OLD IRONSIDES" 

Consult two chapters in Brady's American Fights and Fighters : " The 
Constitution's Hardest Fight," p. 215, and " The Constitution's Last Battle," 
p. 304. Hollis's Frigate Constitution is invaluable for reading and refer- 
ence. Refer to Lossing's History of the War of 181 2 and Lodge's A 
Fighting Frigate and Other Essays. 

In connection with this chapter, read "What our Navy did in the War 
of 1 81 2," in Blaisdell's Story of American History, Chapter XXI, p. 323. 

Chapter XIII, Page 185 

"OLD HICKORY'S" CHRISTMAS 

Read " The Battle of New Orleans," in Roosevelt and Lodge's Hero 
Tales from American History, p. 139, and "The Last Battle with Eng- 
land," in Brady's Atnerican Fights and Fighters, p. 287. Chapter XVIII, 
p. 431, in Higginson's Larger History of the United States is well worth 
reading. 

Chapter XIV, Page 199 

A HERO'S WELCOME 

Concerning Lafayette's visit to this country' in 1824, no books are readily 
accessible. Consult Quincy's Figures of the Past and Brooks's The True 
Story of Lafayette. 



INDEX 



Adair, John, the historic reply of, to 

Colonel Sevier, 94. 
Adams, John, abroad, 147. 

the first Vice President of the 

United States, 155. 
the visit of Lafayette to, at 
Quincy, Massachusetts, 209. 
gives Lafayette a farewell din- 
ner at the White House, 2 1 5. 
Adams, Samuel, stays at home, 147. 
Alexandria, Virginia, Washington at- 
tends dances at, 65. 
Algerine pirates, the, in the Atlantic, 

170. 
Ames, Fisher, defends the Constitu- 
tion, 154. 
Andr^j Major, the British spy, 61. 
Annapolis, delegates meet at, 144. 
Anti-Federalists, the, 153. 
Arnold, Benedict, 18. 

forfeits his place on the monu- 
ment at Saratoga, 18. 
sends spies into Canada, 20. 
given command of the expedi- 
tion to Quebec, in 1776, 20. 
leaves Cambridge, 21. 
given an ovation at Newbury- 

port, 21. 
reaches the Kennebec, 21. 
feasted at Fort Western, 21. 
divides his army, 22. 
ascends the Dead River, 24. 



Arnold, Benedict, deserted by Colonel 
Enos, 24. 
reaches the Chaudiere River, 

25- 
crosses Lake Megan tic, 27. 
starts down the Chaudiere 

River, 28. 
reaches Sartigan, 28. 
arrives at Point Levi, 29. 
before Quebec, 30. 
joins Montgomery, 30. 
leads the attack on Quebec and 

is wounded, 32. 
in the hospital, 34. 
lays siege to Quebec, 34. 
hears from Washington, 34. 
the death knell to the hopes 

of, 35- 
in Virginia, 124. 
Articles of Confederation, the, 141. 
the defects of, 141-144. 

B 

Bailey, Abigail, married to Daniel Mor- 
gan, no. 
Bainbridge, William, 159, 160. 

in command of the Constitu- 
tion, 180. 
Barbary pirates, the, 156, 157, 172. 
Barton, Colonel, captures General Pres- 
cott, 143. 
imprisoned for debt, 143. 



242 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Bateaux, built for Arnold's expedition, 

21. 

Bay State, the, Massachusetts, 144, 206, 

212. 
Beekman mansion, the. Hale a captive 

of Howe at, 58, 59. 
Bennington, Vermont, John Stark de- 
feats the British at, 105. 
Boone, Daniel, i, 2. 
Bowditch, Dr., an anecdote of, 206. 
Braddock, General, defeated by the 

French and Indians, in 1755, 

107. 
Brazil, " Old Ironsides " destroys the 

British frigate Java off the 

coast of, 180. 
Bristol, the, a British man-of-war, 45. 
Buford, used as a watchword, loi. 
Bunker Hill, the battle of, awakens in 

Lafayette an interest in us, 

199. 
Lafayette visits, 212. 
Burgoyne, marches down the valley of 

the Hudson, 114. 
defeated at Freeman's Farm 

and at Saratoga, 114. 
Burr, Aaron, 22. 



Cahokia, a Creole village in the 
country of the Illinois In- 
dians, 8. 

Calhoun, John C, favors making war 
on Great Britain, 186. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Arnold's 
expedition leaves, 21. 
Washington's headquarters at, 

in the Craigie house, 105. 
Morgan marches to, 112. 

Camden, defeat of Gates at, 90. 



Campbell, Lord, royal governor of 
South Carolina, ^^7. 
injured in the attack on Fort 
Sullivan, 46. 
Campbell, William, rallies the back- 
woodsmen, 94. 
leads the advance at King's 
Mountain, loi. 
Canada, extending to the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers, 3. See 
the map on page 7. 
the " back door," 19. 
the winters of, 22, 29. 
Cape Fear River, the, Clinton sails for, 

36. 
Carleton, Sir Guy, 19. 

leaves Montreal and slips into 

Quebec, 31. 
fortifies Quebec, 31. 
Carolina, the, throws shells into the 

British camp, 190, 
Carroll, Colonel, with his riflemen 
arrives from Nashville, 189. 
in the battle of New Orleans, 
194. 
Carrying places, work at the, 22. 
Catalano, the Sicilian pilot, used by 

Decatur, 162, 164. 
Cedars, The, Hale passes a night at, 

57- 
Champlain, Lake, Lafayette visits, 206. 
Charleston, attack on, planned by the 

British, 37. 
the patriots prepare for the 

defense of, 38. 
Charleston Harbor, Sullivan's Island 

near, 2^. 
Charlestown, a part of Boston, "Old 

Ironsides " lies in the navy 

yard at, 169, 183, 184. 



INDEX 



243 



Charlotte, North Carolina, Gates flees 

to, 90. 
Chaudi^re River, the, an army to enter 
Canada by, 20. 
Arnold's army scattered along, 

25. 
the perils of, 28. 
Chesapeake Bay, De Grasse headed 
for, 126. 
De Grasse reaches, 129. 
the patriot armies march to, 1 29. 
Clinton sends a fleet to, 130. 
Admiral Graves forced to with- 
draw from, 130. 
De Grasse gets control of, 130. 
Lafayette returns to France by, 
216. 
Chick, Mother, the tavern of, 57. 
Clark, Captain, at Bunker Hill, 213. 
Clark, George Rogers, i. 

starts for Kentucky, i. 
tramps back to Virginia, 2, 5. 
receives help from Virginia, 3, 
plans great deeds, 4. 
sends out spies, 4. 
appointed colonel, 5. 
helped by Jefferson and Madi- 
son, 5. 
starts down the Ohio, 6. 
begins his march to Kaskas- 

kia, 7. 
interrupts the dance, 8. 
captures Kaskaskia, 8. 
makes friends of the Creoles, 8. 
shows the kind of man he is, 9. 
visited by Indians, 9. 
shows his contempt for the In- 
dians, 9. 
an incident showing the bold- 
ness of, 10. 



Clark, George Rogers, decides to recap- 
ture Vincennes, 1 1. 

starts for Vincennes, 12. 

shows brave leadership, 13. 

makes a speech to his men, 13. 

captures an Indian canoe, 14. 

captures a Creole hunter, 14. 

reaches Vincennes, 15. 

punishes some Indians, 16. 

captures Vincennes, 16. 
Clay, Henry, favors making war on 

Great Britain, 186. 
Cleveland, Colonel, rallies the back- 
woodsmen, 94. 

given the supreme command 
at King's Mountain, 97. 

leads the left wing at King's 
Mountain, loi. 
Clinton, Sir Henry, 18. 

sails for the Cape Fear River, 
36. 

at the attack on Fort Sulli- 
van, 44. 

receives orders to bring " Mr. 
Washington " to a decisive 
action, tj. 

makes raids along the coast, 78. 

hears of the capture of Stony 
Point, 87. 

at Charleston, 90. 

hoodwinked by Washington, 
127. 

sails for Yorktown, 133, 135. 
Coffee, Colonel, and his mounted rifle- 
men at New Orleans, 190. 
Commerce controlled by Congress, 151. 
Common Sense, a pamphlet by Thomas 

Paine, 138. 
Compromises, the three, in framing the 
Constitution, 148-151. 



244 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Confederation, the Articles of, 141. 

the defects of the Articles of, 
141-144- 
Congress, sends General Gates to the 
South, 90. 
believed in by the people of 

the South, 93. 
calls for ten companies, 1 1 2. 
gives thanks for the surrender 

of Cornwallis, 136. 
the national, erects a monu- 
ment at Yorktovvn, 137. 
the weakness of, 139, 142. 
the first Continental, 140. 
the second Continental, 140. 
submits the Constitution to 
the states, 153. 
Connecticut, 54? 125, 143, 146. 
Constitution, the, the framing of, 13S- 

155- 
the state of the country before, 

142-144. 
the convention meets to frame, 

145- 

the noted men who helped 
frame, 146, 147. 

the three compromises in fram- 
ing, 148-151. 

Washington signs, 152. 

the witty remark of Frankhn 
about, 152. 

the discussions over the adop- 
tion of, by the Federalists 
and by the Anti-Federalists, 

153' 154- 

the rejoicings over the adop- 
tion of, 154. 

Gladstone's opinion of, 155. 
Constitution, the frigate, commanded 
by Preble, 15S. 



Constitution, the frigate, the history 
of, 169-184. 

the poem on, by Oliver Wen- 
dell Holmes, 169. 

built in Boston, 170. 

a description of, 171. 

sport made of, by British naval 
officers, 172. 

the launching of, 172. 

the battle of, before Tripoli, 1 73. 

the escape of, from a British 
fleet, 174. 

the battle of, with the Guerriere, 
176. 

the battle of, with the Java, 179. 

the battle of, with the Cyane 
and the Levant, 182. 

the after history of, 183. 
Constitution Wharf, in Boston, 170. 
Continentals, the ragged, 2, 77, 129. 
Cornwallis, Lord, given the command 
in the South, 90. 

marches north to Virginia, 91, 
123. 

attempts to crush Lafayette, 
124. 

retreats to Yorktown, 125. 

attempts to escape from York- 
town, 131. 

attempts to break through the 
American lines, 132. 

forced to surrender, 134. 

the surrender of, announced in 
Philadelphia, 136. 
Cowpens, the battle of, 1 16-120. 
Craigie house, the, in Cambridge, Mass- 
achusetts, becomes Washing- 
ton's headquarters, 105. 
Creole villages, the, north of the Ohio 
River, 3, 6, 7-1 1, 14. 



INDEX 



245 



Creoles, the, at New Orleans, 189. 
Crisis, the, 138-155. See Constitution. 
Cunningham, the cruelty of, to Hale, 

59, 60. 
Custis, the adopted son of Washington, 

66. 
Custis, Nellie, Washington's ward, 74. 
Cyane, the, a British frigate, destroyed 

by "Old Ironsides," 182, 183. 



Dale, Commodore, sent to the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, 157. 
captures a Tripolitan war ship, 
158. 
Daring exploit, a, 156-168. See Phil- 
adelphia, the frigate. 
Davie, William, a leader in the South, 

91. 
Dayton, Jonathan, of New Jersey, at 
the Philadelphia convention, 
146. 
Dearborn, Captain, kills his fine dog, 26. 
Decatur, Stephen, 158. 

chosen to destroy the Philadel- 
phia, 161. 
calls for volunteers, 162. 
sails for Tripoli, 162. 
boards the Philadelphia and 

sets her on fire, 165, 166. 
the promotion of, 168. 
how received by Commodore 
Preble, 173. 
Deckhard rifle, the, used in the South, 95. 
Declaration of Independence, the, 140, 

141, 146, 157. 
De Grasse receives orders to act with 
Washington, 125. 
headed for Chesapeake Bay, 
126. 



De Grasse defeats the British fleet and 
controls Chesapeake Bay, 
130. 
at the blockade of Yorktown, 
134- 

Delaware, the representation of, in Con- 
gress, 149. 
the first to adopt the Constitu- 
tion, 154. 

DePeyster, Colonel, the bravery of, 103. 

Detroit, Fort, Hamilton's headquarters, 
4, 1 1. See the map on page 
7- 

Dickinson, John, at the Philadelphia 
convention, 147. 

Dinwiddle, governor of Virginia, 109. 

Doak, I^ev. Samuel, invokes a blessing 
before the march to King's 
Mountain, 96. 

Dragoons, the defeat of the red, 90-104. 
See King's Mountain. 

Du Loup River, the, Arnold's men cross, 
29. 

Dunmore, Lord, driven from Virginia, 
36. 



Ellsworth, OUver, at the Philadelphia 
convention, 146. 

Enos, Colonel, 22, 23. 

deserts Arnold, 24. 

Enterprise, the, fights a Tripolitan man- 
of-war, 157. 

Experiment, the, a British man-of-war, 
46. 



Farragut, Admiral, 41. 
Federalist, the, 154. 
Federalists, the, 153. 



246 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Ferguson, Colonel, character of, 91. 

enlists Tories and raids the 

Carolinas, 92. 
threatens the backwoodsmen, 

92. 
the rally of the backwoods- 
men to attack, 94. 
retreats before the backwoods- 
men, 97. 
makes a stand at King's Moun- 
tain, 99. 
defeated at King's Mountain, 

101-103. 
the death of, at King's Moun- 
tain, 102. 
Fish, Nicholas, with Lafayette at York- 
town, 208. 
Fiske, John, the historian, 115, 139. 
Fort Detroit, Hamilton's headquarters, 
4, 1 1 . See the map on page 7. 
Fort Pitt, 5. See the map on page 7. 
Fort Sullivan, the defense of, 36-49. 
built of palmetto logs, 38. 
the mounting of cannon in, 39. 
visited by General Lee, 39. 
Lee advises the surrender of, 

39. 46. 
the British plan of attack on, 

41. 
the attack on, 41-48. 
the repulse of the British attack 

on, 48. 
the moral effect of the defense 
of, 49. 
Fort Sumter, 43. 

France, the king of, promises us aid, 201. 
Franklin and Holston settlements, now 

Tennessee, 92. 
Franklin, Benjamin, at the Philadel- 
phia convention, 146. 



Franklin, Benjamin, work of, in fram- 
ing the Constitution,! 50, 1 52. 
the witty remark of, about the 

Constitution, 152. 
a quotation from the almanac 

of, 157. 
aids Lafayette, 200. 

Frederick the Great of Prussia, friendly 
to us, 145. 

Freeman's Farm, Burgoyne defeated 
at, 1 14. 

French Canadians, the, help Arnold, 28. 

French fleet, the, under De Grasse, 125. 
See De Grasse. 

French villages, the, north of the Ohio 
River, 3, 11, 15. 



Gates, General, the statue of, at Sara- 
toga, iS. 
sent to take command in the 

South, 90. 
defeated at Camden, South 

Carolina, 90. 
the character of, 90, 105. 
George, King, receives word of Corn- 

wallis's surrender, 137. 
Georgia, overrun by the British, 90. 

protests against abolishing slav- 
ery, 150. 
Germantown, Pennsylvania, Wayne at, 

82. 
Gerry, Elbridge, at the Philadelphia 

convention, 147. 
Gibault, Father, aids Clark, 8. 
Gibbs, General, leads the British at New 
Orleans, 195. 
severely wounded, 196. 
Gibraltar, Dacres gives Hull a dinner 
at, 179. 



INDEX 



247 



Gibraltar of America, the, Quebec, 30, 

35- 
the little. Stony Point, 80, 88. 
Gilmer, Enoch, spies out Ferguson, 100. 
Gladstone, WilUam Ewart, how the 

Constitution was regarded 

by, 155- 

Gloucester, Virginia, Cornwallis plans 

to escape by way of, 132. 
Graves, Admiral, forced to withdraw 

from Chesapeake Bay, 130. 
Greene, Nathanael, 65. 

Washington's right-hand man, 

90. 
the ability of, 105. 
left the army for a time, 115. 
defeated at Guilford, North 

Carolina, 123. 
the death of, 147. 
Grier, Sergeant, and his wife, with 
Arnold's expedition to Que- 
bec, 22, 27. 
Guerriere, the, a British frigate, de- 
stroyed by " Old Ironsides," 
178. 
Guilford, North Carolina, Lord Corn- 
wallis defeats Greene at, 123. 

H 

Hale, Nathan, the patriot spy, 50-61. 
volunteers to serve as a spy, 53. 
receives his instructions from 

Washington, 53. 
the parentage and the home of, 

54- 
the boyhood of, 54. 
the education of, 54. 
teaches school in New London, 

Connecticut, 54. 
bids his pupils farewell, 55. 



Hale, Nathan, starts for Cambridge, 55. 
the diary of, 55. 
disguises himself, 56. 
returns in safety from the Brit- 
ish lines, but puts up at 
" Mother Chick's," 57. 
arrested, 57. 
taken to New York, 58. 
condemned to die, 59. 
the dying speech of, 60. 
hanged, 60. 
Hamilton, Alexander, the address of, 
at Annapolis, 144. 
at the Philadelphia convention, 

146. 
defends the Constitution, 154. 
Hamilton, Henry, the "hair buyer," 4. 
stirs up the savages, 11. 
recaptures Vincennes, 1 1 . 
surrenders Vincennes to Clark, 
16. 
Hampton Roads, Virginia, De Grasse 

in, 129. 
Harlem Heights, the patriots retreat to, 

51- 

Harrod, James, one of the leaders in 
Kentucky, 2. 

Hartford, Connecticut, Lafayette visits, 
206, 209. 

Hartt, the naval yard of, in Boston, 170. 

Harvard College, Lafayette attends com- 
mencement at, 205. 

Heights of Abraham, the, Arnold climbs 
to, 30. 
Wolfe climbs to, in 1759, 30. 

Helm, Captain, a prisoner at Vincennes, 

15- 
Henry, Patrick, aids Clark, 5. 

does not attend the Philadel- 
phia convention, 147. 



248 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Hero's welcome, a, 199-216. See 

Lafayette. 
Hessians, the, the " ragged Continen- 
tals" meet, at Trenton, 77. 
Wayne meets, at Germantown, 

82. 
march with Burgoyne, 1 1 4. 
Morgan's men a terror to, 114. 
Highlanders, Scotch, in the battle of 
New Orleans, 194-196. 
the backwoodsmen compared 
to a clan of, 104. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, saves " Old 
Ironsides," 169. 
at Harvard College, 169. 
Holston settlements, the, now a part of 

Tennessee, i, 92. 
Hood, Admiral, at Chesapeake Bay, 130. 
Horseshoe Plain, the, Clark crosses, 14. 
Howard, Colonel, commands the Con- 
tinentals at Cowpens, 118. 
Howe, General, Hale brought before, 58. 

evacuates Boston, 77. 
Hudson River, the, 78, 79. 

Lafayette visits, 206, 208. 
Hull, Colonel, 82. 

Hull, Isaac, Captain, in command of 
the Constitution, 174. 
has an "interview" with 

Dacres, 176. 
at Gibraltar, 179. 
Humphreys, Mr., of Philadelphia, the 
builder of " Old Ironsides," 170. 



Illinois Indians, the, the country of, 4, 6. 

See the map on page 7. 
Imprisonment for debt, 143. 
Independence Hall, the Old State 

House in Philadelphia, 145. 



Intrepid, the, used by Decatur to destroy 
the Philadelphia, 162-168. 

Ironsides, Old, 169-184. See Consti- 
tution, the frigate. 

J 

Jacataqua, the Indian girl, joins Ar- 
nold's expedition to Quebec, 
21. 
acts as guide, and cares for the 
sick and the injured, 26. 
Jackson, Andrew, in command at New 
Orleans, 188. 
hears of the advance of the 

British, 188. 
prepares to defend New Or- 
leans, 189. 
attacksthe British by night, 190. 
throws up earthworks, 193. 
at the battle of New Orleans, 

194. 
wins a remarkable victory, 196. 
the after history of, 198. 
James River, the, 78, 131. 
Jasper, William, the heroism of, 48. 
Java, the, destroyed by "Old Iron- 
sides," 180. 
the wheel of, fitted on " Old 
Ironsides," 181, 
Jay, John, defends the Constitution, 

154- 
Jefferson, Thomas, the narrow escape 
of, from Tarleton, 124. 
abroad, 147. 
President of the United States, 

a man of peace, 157, 186. 
visited by Lafayette, 214. 
Jones, one of Jackson's officers, guards 
Lake Borgne and is killed, 
187. 



INDEX 



249 



Kaskaskia, 6-8. 

Keane, General, leads the British at 
New Orleans, 195. 
severely wounded, 196. 
Kentucky, the founding of Lexington, i. 
the pioneers in, i, 2. 
the fighting in, " the dark and 
bloody ground," 4. 
King, Rufus, at the Philadelphia con- 
vention, 147. 
King's Ferry, on the Hudson River, the 
British get the control of, 78. 
King's Mountain, the battle of, 90-104. 
the state of affairs before the 

battle of, 90-93. 
the rally of the backwoodsmen 

before the battle of, 93. 
the march of the pioneers to, 

96-100. 
the plan of the battle of, 100. 
the battle of, 101-103. 
the victory of the backwoods- 
men at, 103, 104. 
the effect of the victory at, 104. 
Knowlton, Colonel, 51. 

interviews his officers, 52. 
Knox, Henry, an American general, 
130, 203. 



Lafayette, in the Yorktown campaign, 
124, 131. 135- 

hears of our struggle for inde- 
pendence, 199. 

arrives in this country, 200. 

serves under Washington, 200. 

returns to France, 201. 

returns to America with the 
king's pledge of help, 201. 



Lafayette, returns to France, but re- 
members us, 201. 
visits America in 1784, 202. 
visits us again in 1824, 202. 
the admiration of our people 

for, 203. 
the personal appearance of, 

204. 
the interview of, with Red 

Jacket, 204. 
the receptions given to, from 

New York to Boston, 205. 
the tour of, through the United 

States, 206. 
visits Yorktown, 207. 
visits New Orleans, 208. 
visits other towns and cities, 

. 208-210. 
goes to Mount Vernon, 211. 
at Boston and Bunker Hill, 

212-214. 
the formal reception of, at 

Washington, 215. 

returns to France, 215. 

Lafayette, George Washington, visits 

us with his father in 1824, 

203. 
Lafitte, the " Pirate of the Gulf," aids 

Jackson, 189. 
Lake Borgne, near New Orleans, the 

British cross, 187. 
Lambert, Henry, Captain, commander 

of the British frigate Java, 

179. 
mortally wounded, 182. 
Lambert, John, General, leads the Brit- 
ish reserve at New Orleans, 

195- 
retreats from New Orleans and 
sails for England, 197. 



250 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Langdon, John, at the Philadelphia 
convention, 147. 

Lawrence, James, with Decatur, 165, 
166. 

Ledge Falls, Greene's division reaches, 
24. 
Enos turns back at, 24. 

Lee, Charles, advises the abandoning 
of Fort Sullivan, 39, 46. 
the character of, 40. 
the cowardice of, at Monmouth, 
105. 

Lee, Henry, or " Light-Horse Harry," 
defends the Constitution,! 54. 

Levant, the, a British sloop of war, 
destroyed by " Old Iron- 
sides," 182, 183. 

Levi, Point, the arrival of Arnold at, 
29. 

Lewis, Lawrence, Washington's favor- 
ite nephew, 63. 

Lexington, Kentucky, the origin of the 
name, i. 

Lexington, Massachusetts, the Revolu- 
tion begins at, i, 36, 112, 140. 

Lincoln, General, surrenders Charles- 
ton, 90, 134.- 
receives Cornwallis's sword, 

134- 
Little Wabash, the, Clark crosses, 12. 
Long Island, New York, the patriots 

defeated in the battle of, 50. 
Hale enters, in disguise, 56. 
Long Island, South Carolina, north of 

Sullivan's Island, 41, 44. 
Long Knives, the, the backwoodsmen 

called, 9, 10. 
Louisiana, the, an American war vessel, 

blows Sir Edward's sugar 

barrels to pieces, 192. 



Lower house, the, of Congress, or 
House of Representatives, 
148, 149, 155. 

Lower Town, the, at Quebec, Arnold's 
men attack, 32. 

M 

Madeira Islands, the, " Old Ironsides " 
fights a great battle near, 
"182. 
Madison, James, of Virginia, 146. 

" Father of the Constitution," 

148. 
hated slavery, 149. 
defends the Constitution, 154. 
President of the United States, 
a man of peace, 186. 
Maltese sailors, Decatur's sailors 

dressed like, 161, 164. 
Manhattan Island, the patriots retire 

from, 51. 
Map, a, showing the line of Clark's 
march, 7. 
of Arnold's route to Quebec, 

23- 
of the military operations in 

the Carolinas, 99. 
Marion, Francis, a leader in the South, 

91. 
Marseillaise, The, the national hymn of 

France, 189. 
Marshall, John, defends the Constitu- 
tion, 154. 
Martha's Vineyard, 78. 
Maryland called on for volunteers, 112. 
Mason, George, of Virginia, opposed to 

slavery, 150. 
McDaniell, an anecdote of, 47. 
McDonough, Thomas, with Decatur, 

166. 



INDEX 



251 



McDowell, leads the refugees, 94. 
McLane, Captain, one of Wayne's 

pickets, 81. 
Meigs, Major, a commander under 

Arnold, 22. 
Midnight surprise, a, 77-89. See 

Stony Point. 
Midwinter campaign, a, 18-35. See 

Arnold. 
Minutemen, the, of the Old North 

State, 36. 
Mississippi River, the, Lafayette 

ascends, 206. 
Monmouth, New Jersey, the battle of, 
200. 
Wayne at, 82. 

the cowardice of Charles Lee 
at, 105. 
Monroe, President, instructed to invite 
Lafayette as the nation's 
guest, 202. 
receives Lafayette at the White 
House, 204. ^ 

Montgomery, General, 20. 

joined by Arnold, 30. 
demands the surrender of 

Quebec, 31. 
despairs of the expedition, 31. 
leads the attack on Quebec, 32. 
the death of, 23- 
Monticello, the home of Thomas Jef- 
ferson, near Charlottesville, 
Virginia, 124, 214. 
Montreal, captured by Montgomery, 30. 

Sir Guy Carleton leaves, 31. 
Monument, the, at Saratoga, 18, 122. 
at Yorktown, 137. 
the statues of Schuyler, Gates, 
and Morgan on, at Saratoga, 
18. 



Monument, the, Arnold forfeits his 

place on, at Saratoga, 18. 
Morgan, Daniel, the life of, 105-122. 

the statue of, at Saratoga, New 

York, 18, 12 2. 
the statue of, at Spartanburg, 

South Carolina, 122. 
joins Arnold's expedition, 21. 
leads the advance in Arnold's 
expedition, 22. 
. forced to surrender at Quebec, 
34- 
the early life of, 106. 
enlists in the Virginia troops 
and serves as a teamster, 
106. 
takes pride in his company 
and shows his skill as a 
boxer, 107. 
enlists as a teamster in Wash- 
ington's regiment, 107. 
receives one hundred lashes, 

108. 
makes his mark as a private, 

108. 
drives no more army wagons, 

108. 
receives the commission of an 

ensign, 109. 
severely wounded, 109. 
returns to his farm, no. 
the marriage of, no. 
marches to Cambridge, 112. 
at the siege of Quebec, 113. 
made a colonel, 1 13. 
at Freeman's Farrn and at 

Saratoga, 114. 
leaves the army for a time, 1 1 5. 
rejoins the army in the South, 
under Gates, 115. 



252 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Morgan, Daniel, made a brigadier gen- 
eral, 115. 

makes his plan for a battle with 
Tarleton, 116. 

makes his stand at Cowpens, 
116. 

victorious at Cowpens, 119. 

marches to join General 
Greene, 121. 

retires from the army again, 
121. 

takes part in the Virginia cam- 
paign of 1780, 121. 

the after life of, 122. 

the valor of, commemorated at 
Saratoga, New York, and at 
Spartanburg, South Caro- 
lina, 122. 
Morocco, 156, 158. 

Morris, Gouverneur, originator of our 
decimal system of money, at- 
tends the Philadelphia con- 
vention, 146. 
Morris, Lieutenant, with Captain Hull 
on" Old Ironsides," 174, 177. 
Morris, Robert, imprisoned for debt, 

143- 
at the Philadelphia convention, 

146. 
Morristown, New Jersey, Morgan re- 
ports at, 113. 
Moultrie, William, ordered to build a 
fort on Sullivan's Island, 38. 

visited by Charles Lee, 39. 

visited by the master of a pri- 
vateer, 40. 

defends his fort, 42. 

encourages his men, 45. 

honored for his defense of 
Fort Sullivan, 49. 



Moultrie, William, the after life of, 49, 
Mount Vernon, Washington's home, 

68-70, 76, 138. 
visited by Lafayette in 1784, 

202. 
visited by Lafayette in 1824, 

211. 
Murfree, Colonel, at Stony Point, 86. 
Murray mansion, the, Washington's 

headquarters in 1776, 50. 

N 
Napoleon, England struggles against, 
185. 
at Elba, 186. 
Nashville, Tennessee, the riflemen of, 
189. 
Lafayette visits, 208. 
Natural Bridge, the, in Virginia, Wash- 
ington throws to the top of, 
64. 
Nelson, Governor, of Virginia, 132. 
, the house of, 132, 133, 207. 
called the " war governor," 

^33- 
Nelson, Lord, England's great admiral, 

41. 
praises Decatur's deed in the 

Mediterranean, 168. 
New Jersey, Trenton, 77. 
Monmouth, 82. 
Morristown, 113. 
" Old Ironsides," the home of 

Commodore Stewart, 184. 
W^ashington plans to go to 

Yorktown by way of, 127. 
New Orleans, the battle of, 185-198. 

the events leading to the battle 

of, 1 85. 
foreign in character, 187, 189. 



INDEX 



253 



New Orleans, the British plan to cap- 
ture, 187. 
the expedition sent against, 187. 
Jackson's headquarters in, 188. 
Jackson plans for the defense 

of, 189. 
the arrival of the riflemen at, 

189. 
Jackson throws up earthworks 

below, 190. 
the night attack on the British 

below, 190. 
the beginning of the battle 

below, 192. 
a description of the battle of, 

194-196. 
the British defeated at, 196. 
the retreat of the British after 

the battle of, 197. 
the sad part of the victory at, 

198. 
Lafayette visits, 206, 208. 
New Roof, the, 154. 
New York, the city of, 143. 

Lafayette at, 203, 209. 

the state of, 142, 149. 

Nolichucky River, the, Sevier's home 

on, 93. 
Norfolk, shelled and destroyed by a 

British fleet, 36. 
Norridgewock, Maine, Arnold's army 

leaves, 23. 
North, Lord, receives word of Corn- 

wallis's surrender, 136. 
North State, the Old, North Carolina, 
36, 37. 91- 



O'Hara, General, sent by Cornwallis to 
deliver up his sword, 134. 



Ohio, the representation of, in Con- 
gress, 149. 

Ohio River, the, Clark floats down, 6. 
Lafayette ascends, 206. 

Old Dominion, the, Virginia, 215. 

Old Hickory's Christmas, 185-198. 
See New Orleans. 

Old Ironsides, 169-184. See Constitu- 
tion, the frigate. 
origin of the name, 178. 

Old North State, the, North Carolina, 
36, Z7^ 91- 

Old State House, the, in Philadelphia, 
now called Independence 
Hall, 145. 

Orang-outangs, Arnold's men resemble, 

30- 

P 

Pakenham, Sir Edward, arrives at New 

Orleans on Christmas Day, 

1814, 191. 
takes a look at the Americans, 

192. 
killed in the battle of New 

Orleans, 195. 
Palmetto logs, one way of using, 36-49. 

See Fort Sullivan. 
Parker, Sir Peter, arrives at Cape Fear, 

takes command of the com- 
bined British fleets and sails 
for Charleston, 37. 
delays his attack on Charles- 
ton, 41. 
attacks Fort Sullivan, 42. 
the fleet of, defeated, 48. 
Pasha of Tripoli, the, t 56. 
Patriot, our greatest, 62-76. See 
Washington, 
spy, the, 50-61. See Hale. 



2 54 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Peace, the treaty of, with Great Britain 
signed in Paris, France, in 
September, 1783, 138, 202. 

the treaty of, with Great Britain 
in 18 1 4 was signed at Ghent, 
Belgium, on Christmas eve, 
181 4, about two weeks before 
the battle of New Orleans, 
198. 
Pennsylvania called on for volunteers, 

112. 
Perry, Commodore, the hero of the 

battle of Lake Erie, 202. 
Petersburg, 'Lord Cornwallis arrives at, 

123. 
Philadelphia, the first Continental 
Congress at, 140. 

the second Continental Con- 
gress at, 140. 

the Constitution drafted at, in 
the Old State House, 145. 

the visit of Lafayette to, 210. 
Philadelphia, the frigate, the burning 
of, 156-168. 

the events leading to the cap- 
ture of, 156-159. 

towed into the harbor of Trip- 
oli, 159. 

plans made for retaking, 160. 

Decatur's plan for the retaking 
of, 161. 

Decatur starts for the recap- 
ture of, 162. 

the capture and the burning of, 
166. 
Phillips, Samuel, carries Ferguson's 
threat to the backwoodsmen, 
92. 
Pickens, Andrew, a leader in the South, 
91. 



Pickens, Andrew, at the battle of Cow- 
pens, 117. 

Pinckneys, the two brilliant, Charles 
and Thomas, of South Caro- 
lina, at the Philadelphia con- 
vention, 146. 

Pirates, the, on the African coast, 156, 
170. 

Pitt, Fort, 5. See the map on page 7. 

Point Levi, the arrival of Arnold at, 29, 

Pompey, Wayne's guide at Stony 
Point, 84. 

Poor Richard's Almanac, a quotation 
from, 157. 

Portland, Maine, Lafayette visits, 206. 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, " Old 
Ironsides " at, 183. 
Lafayette visits, 206. 

Preble, Commodore, in command of 
our fleet in the Mediterra- 
nean, 158, 161, 172. 
sails for Sicily, 160. 
the quick temper of, 1 73. 

Prescott, General, captured by Colonel 
Barton, 143. 

Prescott, William, at the battle of 
Bunker Hill, 213. 



Quebec, an expedition planned against, 
20. 

the "Gibraltar of America," 30. 

reached by Arnold's expedi- 
tion, 30. 

the siege of, 31. 

the midnight attack on, 32. 

the siege of, raised, 35. 

Morgan at, 34, iii, 113. 
Quincy, Massachusetts, Lafayette visits, 
to see John Adams, 209. 



INDEX 



255 



Randolph, Edmund, at the Philadel- 
phia convention, 147. 
defends the Constitution, 154. 
Rappahannock River, the, Washington 

throws across, 64. 
Rawdon, Lord, in South Carolina, 

126. 
Red Jacket, the Indian chief, meets 

Lafayette, 204. 
Rennie, Colonel, a British commander 
at the battle of New Orleans, 
195- 
Representatives in Congress, 149. 
Revere, Paul, furnishes the copper used 

in "Old Ironsides," 172. 
Rhode Island, 142, 147. 

sends no delegates to Philadel- 
phia, 145. 
the representation of, in Con- 
gress, 149. 
" Old Ironsides " at Newport, 
183. 
Rutledge, John, Governor, the char- 
acter of, 40. 
sends powder to Fort Sulli- 
van, 46. 
rewards Sergeant Jasper, 48. 
at the Philadelphia convention, 
146. 



St. John's gate at Quebec, 35. 
Saratoga, New York, the monument 
at, 18. 

Burgoyne defeated at, 114. 

Morgan at, 114. 
Sartigan, Canada, Arnold reaches, 28. 

Arnold's men arrive at, 29. 
Schoolmaster, Hale disguised as a, 56. 



Schuyler, General, the statue of, at 
Saratoga, 18. 
left the army for a time, 115. 
Scotch-Irish in the South, 92, 93. 
Senate, the, or upper house of Con- 
gress, 148, 155. 
Senators in Congress, 149. 
Sevier, Colonel, rallies the backwoods- 
men, 93, 
uses the county funds to buy 
supplies for the riflemen, 94. 
leads the right wing at King's 
Mountain, loi. 
Shannon, the, a British frigate, 174, 17 c. 
Shawnees, the, Clark meets, 10. 
Shelby, Colonel, rallies the backwoods- 
men, 92, 93. 
leads a column of the riflemen 
at King's Mountain, loi. 
Sherman, Roger, at the Philadelphia 

convention, 146. 
Sicily, Commodore Preble sails to, 160. 
Siren, the brig, accompanies Decatur 

to Tripoli, 162, 163. 
Slave question, the, in framing the 

Constitution, 149-151. 
South, the, a blow aimed at, by the 
British, 36. 
British success in, 90. 
the patriot leaders in, 91. 
the brutality of the British in, 
91. 
South Carolina, overrun by the British, 
90. 
protests against abolishing 
slavery, 150. 
Spy, the patriot, 50-61. See Hale. 
Stark, John, defeats the British at 
Bennington, Vermont, 105. 
leaves the army for a time, 115. 



256 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Stewart, Charles, in command of the 

frigate Constitution, 182. 

the death of, 184. 

Stony Point, on the Hudson River, the 

capture of, by Wayne, 77-89- 

the British capture and fortify, 

78. 
Washington plans to attack, 

79- 
a description of, 79. 
a description of the fortifica- 
tions of, 80. 
the " little Gibraltar," 80. 
Wayne appointed commander 
of the expedition against, 80. 
Wayne's march to, 82. 
Wayne's plan of attack on, 84. 
the attack on, 85. 
the capture of, 86. 
the capture of, announced to 
Washington, 88. 
Sullivan, Fort, the defense of, 36-49. 

See Fort Sullivan. 
Sumter, Fort, 43- 

Sumter, Thomas, General, a leader in 
the South, 91. 
still alive in 1824, 203. 
Surprise, a midnight, 77-89- See 

Stony Point. 
Sycamore Shoals, 94. 

the backwoodsmen meet at, 95. 
Syracuse, Sicily, Commodore Preble 
sails to, 160. 
Decatur sails from, 162. 



Tallmadge, Major, questions Andre, 61. 
Tarleton, Colonel, the brutality of, in 
the South, 91. 
defeated at Cowpens, 118, 119. 



Tarleton, Colonel, and the two young 
ladies, 120. 
in the Yorktown campaign, 124. 
Teamster, the old, 105-122. See 

Morgan. 
Thaxter, Rev. Joseph, at Bunker Hill, 

213. 
Thompson, Colonel, and his sharp- 
shooters aid Moultrie, 41,44. 
Tilghman, Colonel, informs Congress 
' of Cornwallis's surrender, 

136. 
Tompkins, Daniel, Vice President of 

the United States, entertains 

Lafayette in 1824, 203. 
Tories, the, at " Mother Chick's," 57. 
in the South, 91, 92, 97, 99, 

100, 102. 
Trade, free, between the states, 151. 
Trenton, New Jersey, the British 

defeated at, 77. 
Tripoli, 156-168, 173, 180, 184. 
Trumbull, " The Surrender of Corn- 

vvallis " painted by, 133. 
Tryon, William, the hated, a British 

general, 78. 
Tunis, 156. 
Twelve Mile carrying place, the, 22. 

Enos reaches the, 23. 

U 

United Colonies, the, 141. 

United States, the frigate, commanded 

by Decatur, 158. 
United States of America, the, 1 54. 

the Constitution of, 155. See 

Constitution, 
the growth of, 202. 
University of Virginia, the, Lafayette 
entertained at, 214. 



INDEX 



257 



Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Lafayette 
at, 200. 
the patriots suffer greatly at, 
200. 
Vernon, Mount, Washington's home, 68. 
the slaves at, 70. 
the hospitality at, 71, 76. 
Washington retires to, 138. 
Lafayette's visits to, 202, 211. 
Verplanck's Point, on the Hudson 
River, the British fortify, 78. 
Victory, the final, 123-137, See York- 
town campaign. 
Ville de Paris, the flagship of De 

Grasse, 129. 
Viller^, Major, informs Jackson of the 
approach of the British, 188. 
Vincennes, the hero of, 1-17. See 

Clark. 
Virginia, in the struggle with Great 
Britain, 2, 5. 
aids Clark, 3, 5. 
called on for volunteers, 112. 
takes the lead in sending dele- 
gates to Philadelphia, 145. 
the University of, Lafayette 
visits, 214. 
Vulture, the, a British war ship at 
Stony Point, 87. 

w 

Wabash River, the Little, Clark crosses, 
12. 

Wabash River, the, Clark crosses, 13. 

Wagoner, the old, 105-122. See 
Morgan. 

Warner, James, and his wife with 
Arnold's expedition to Que- 
bec, 22, 26. 



Washington, Lafayette received by 
President Monroe at, 204. 

Lafayette's farewell dinner at, 
215. 
Washington, George, in the Revolu- 
tion, 2. 

takes command of the patriots 
at Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, 19. 

meets Benedict Arnold, 19. 
■ confers with his officers at the 
Murray mansion, 50. 

gives Hale his orders, 53. 

informed of Hale's execution, 
61. 

our greatest patriot, 62-76. 

the personal appearance of, 

63- 

the strength of, 64. 

likes dancing, 65. 

eats simple food, 66. 

fond of fine clothes, 66. 

a fine horseman, 67. 

methodical in business, 68. 

owns much land, 69, 70. 

dislikes slaves, 70. 

the generosity of, 71. 

attends the meeting at New- 
burgh, New York, 72. 

the appearance of, on his first 
visit to Congress, described 
by an eyewitness, y^. 

the formal receptions of, 74. 

the state dinners of, 75. 

the greatness of, y6. 

a hard nut to crack, says Gen- 
eral Clinton, 77. 

plans an attack on Stony Point, 
79, 81. 

visits Stony Point, 88. 



258 HERO STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY 



Washington, George, famous men 
gathered about, in the siege 
of Boston, 105. 

meets Daniel Morgan, 112. 

in the Yorktown campaign, 
124-136. 

bids farewell to his generals, 
138. 

retires to Mount Vernon, 138. 

the " legacy " of, to the Amer- 
ican people, 140. 

works at the problem of our 
national existence, 143. 

attends the Philadelphia con- 
vention, 145. 

made president of the Phila- 
delphia convention, 147. 

holds the Philadelphia conven- 
tion to its duty, 148. 

signs the Constitution, 152. 

the first President of the 
United States, 155. 

Lafayette serves under, 200. 

Lafayette visits, at Mount Ver- 
non, 202. 

tomb of, at Mount Vernon, 211. 
Washington, William, at the battle of 
Cowpens, 1 17-1 19. 

in a hand to hand fight with 
Tarleton, 120. 

" knows how to make his 
mark," 120. 
Wayne, Anthony, the personal appear- 
ance of, 80. 

chosen to attack Stony Point, 
80. 

at Germantown and at Mon- 
mouth, 82. 

the march of, to Stony Point, 
82. 



Wayne, Anthony, reads his order of 
battle at Stony Point, 83. 
writes to a friend at Philadel- 
phia, 83. 
leads the attack on Stony 

Point, 85. 
wounded in the head, 86. 
captures the fort, 87. 
writes a letter to Washington, 

88. 
in the Yorktown campaign, 121, 
124. 
Webster, Daniel, speaks at the dedica^ 
tion of the Bunker Plill 
Monument, 214. 
Wellington, the Duke of, a British 
general, 186. 
called the " Iron Duke," 187. 
West Point, the Americans at, y8, 125. 
Washington's headquarters at, 
127. 
Wilson, James, the learned lawyer, at 
the Philadelphia convention, 
146. 
Winchester, Virginia, 108. 
Wolfe captures Quebec in 1759, 30. 
Worcester, Massachusetts, Lafayette 
visits, 206. 



Yorktown, the monument at, 137. 

the visit of Lafayette to, 207. 
Yorktown campaign, the, 123-137, 

the state of affairs in the 

South before, 123. 
the first move of Cornwallis in, 

124. 
made possible by the aid of a 

French fleet, 125. 
planned by Washington, 126. 



INDEX 



259 



Yorktown campaign, the, Washington's 
first move in, 128. 

the Continental and French 
troops march to take part 
in, 128. 

Clinton awakens to the impor- 
tance of, 130. 



Yorktown campaign, the, De Grasse 
aids in, with a large fleet, 130. 

the siege in, 132. 

Cornwallis surrenders in, 134. 

the effect of the victory in, 
upon King George and his 
ministers, 136, 137. 



THE END 



APH 16 1903 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 527 629 3 







